


Bloodmoon

by synfy



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Alternate Universe - Avatar (TV) Fusion, F/F, F/M, Inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:07:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 36,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23488078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/synfy/pseuds/synfy
Summary: The Fire Nation is once again on the path to war, this time targeting all other benders. Nathan Wesninski sold out every waterbender in the Northern Water Tribe to the Fire Nation in exchange for the privilege of becoming the Firelord's butcher. Neil's been on the run with his mother ever since. Running is what's kept him alive. He never paused to imagine what it might be like if he stopped running, and he certainly never imagined what it might be like to find a family of rebels, teach the Avatar, or fight alongside an earthbender tougher than emerald.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 30
Kudos: 121





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some context, I am writing this to take place at least one full avatar cycle after Aang, and I'm pretty much wholesale ignoring the events of Legend of Korra. I have nothing against LoK!! I simply do not vibe with the worldbuilding in it. There will be references to various locations and events from ATLA, I'll try to specify where the locations from ATLA that I use are, since sometimes the characters aren't gonna have the necessary knowledge to know themselves.

Neil groaned, his head throbbing from a lack of water. The sunlight that he could see coming in from between the bars was too bright for his sore eyes. It burned, burned like fire. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was. Why did his throat feel like sandpaper? Where was his mom? There was a harsh sound like a fist against metal, and then everything got so much brighter. He groaned again, and his voice sounded like gravel and dust.

"Come on freak, time to get up." A fist bunched in the back of his shirt and yanked him upright, and Neil saw a flash of black and red. 

Fire nation soldiers.

A bolt of adrenaline shot through him, intensifying the pounding in his temples, and Neil finally remembered what had happened. They'd caught up to him. Him and his mom, in a little farming village outside of Ba Sing Se. The village had been in a drought, so they hadn't been able to fight back against the fire as it raged around them, tearing the grass huts to shreds. One of the soldiers, the commanding officer of this particular group, had taken his mom down with a lucky shot to the head with the tail of his mount. She'd died quickly, and he'd been forced to drag her into one of the huts and leave. He'd run out into the plains, hoping to hide among the tall grasses, but their pursuers proved perfectly willing to burn the whole plain to find him. The last thing he could remember was choking on the smoke. They must have grabbed him after he passed out.

His one bit of comfort, he thought as the guard who'd grabbed his shirt tossed him out into the middle of the dusty road, was that these idiots didn't know to properly contain him.

Neil struggled to get his bearings, blinking dirt out of his eyes as he sized up how many soldiers were around. Three stood over him, their helmets off so that he could see their superior grins. 

"Thirsty, freak?" One of them took the cap off a canteen and began to pour it slowly onto the road in front of him. Neil threw himself forward as best he could with his legs and hands bound, trying to get even just a few drops of water to soothe his throat. Behind him, he could hear four more soldiers laughing. That put their number at roughly 8? It was more than he liked, that was for sure, but he could probably manage it. He'd need a little more time, though.

"Where are we?" He croaked. His throat felt like he was tearing it open to speak.

Heavy footsteps pounded the ground and another man stopped inches from his nose. Neil struggled to look up. 

This one had slightly different armor, the curled shoulders indicating higher rank. He must be the one in charge. He grinned down at Neil, a cruel, greedy expression.

"Oh, don't worry. We've got less than a week before we reach a good port and get you on a Fire Nation ship back home." He turned away from Neil and towards his little band of men. "And when we turn him in, our little group will get all the glory!" 

Neil almost had to bury his face into the dirt to hide his smile at those words. Perfect.

Neil let himself be manhandled back into the metal cage, no longer quite so worried. This captain was young, inexperienced, and power hungry. He wouldn't have told anyone of Neil's capture yet, unwilling to share the "glory" and "recognition" he thought he'd get. That meant, for now, he should still be hidden from his father's men. This group was clearly not part of the sect that worked directly under his father. Also, it meant that their deaths might not be attributed directly to him. If he did this properly, he might even be able to make it seem like an accident.

~*~

It took nearly two days of dry, dry traveling before Neil saw a spot outside of the cage window that would work. They'd come up on the edge of a forest, which appeared to be on the banks of an inactive volcano. The road was crumbly, narrow, and had an unforgiving drop off to the left. Neil gripped the bars and began to concentrate, reaching out with his senses. 

There was a narrow part of the road ahead. If he could just cause the driver of the cart to veer a little at that spot, it would cause enough panic in the others that he might be able to pick them off before they caught on to him. 

Almost there, almost there, and... Bam.

A lurch in the cart threw off his concentration and he fell to the side, stunned. The cart had tipped somehow, and not in the direction he'd wanted. He hadn't gotten a chance to do anything. There were shouts outside, the soldiers and their mounts roaring at the stop, and a noise like arrows twanging off the sides of his cage. A cacophony of battle sounds began in earnest around him.

The door to his cage wrenched open and the frantic face of the captain appeared. 

"You set this up, didn't you, little shit? You and your whore mother think you're so clever. I'll kill you myself!" He lunged , but Neil just barely managed to get a foot up in time to deliver a kick to the man's chest. It was weaker than he would have liked, but it still staggered the man and gave him enough time. 

The captain's face shone with sweat, and blood from a thin scratch above his eyebrow. It looked like an arrow had grazed him, and it bled sluggishly. The man stumbled up and prepared to lunge again, and Neil let his father's grin creep onto his face. The knife in the captain's hand trembled when he saw Neil's expression, and the hesitation was enough. Neil reached out and _pulled_.

Blood began to pour from the wound, picking up speed as the pressure forced the wound to split open across the captain's face. He screamed at the pain, but Neil, no, Nathaniel didn't slow down for a second. He pulled, and pulled, and watched as the man slowly collapsed. He fell to his knees first, then to his hands as all the blood in his body rushed to obey Nathaniel. His face went pale from the chin up, and then he fell completely limp, his skin translucent and eyeballs flat. His blood pooled around him. 

A part of Neil shuddered and wanted to retch at what he'd just done, but Nathaniel shoved that down hard. He could contemplate his father's disgusting techniques when he was sure he'd have time to.

He staggered to his feet and got out of the cage, muscles trembling and refusing to support his weight. Running would be impossible. He glanced towards the forest, where he thought he'd heard the sounds of battle, but there were only scattered red and black corpses. The whole Fire Nation group was dead. Who'd been attacking them? Where'd they gone?

Neil went to turn, to try to catch a glimpse of the other assailants, and instantly went down as something heavy knocked into the back of his head. He thought he saw a flash of green and pale blonde hair, and then he was out.

~*~

Neil blinked back awareness, feeling a little spike of irritated deja vu. His head was sore, again, but this time it was the tenderness of a bruise and not the throbbing of dehydration. 

Neil could tell he was alone in the room, so he allowed himself to fully sit up and inspect his surroundings. 

He was in a small, circular wooden room. The floorboards were well-made and tightly fitted, while the walls had signs of more shoddy handiwork. Between irregular gaps in the walls, Neil could see gentle golden sunlight pouring in. Given the glimpses of green through an actual window in the wall across from him, and the thick tree trunk to his back, Neil guessed he was probably in the forest that he'd been approaching the day before with the Fire Nation soldiers. 

That meant he was currently being hosted by whoever had attacked the group.

Neil did a quick mental check of his body and frowned. He was utterly uninjured, which meant his "rescuers" had healed him, and there were thick earthen cuffs around his wrists and feet. That was very bad.

Neil began to struggle and thrash in the bed, determined to work up a sweat. Clearly, his rescuers had a healer, another waterbender, which meant they might recognise him. Healing was the only common form of waterbending anymore, since the Fire Nation had worked so hard to eradicate offensive techniques, but even healers were still rare. Being recognised was far too dangerous. If he could just get sweaty enough, he might be able to cut through the cuffs holding him down. 

The bed creaked with his movements, louder than he would have liked, but there was nothing he could do about that. He just had to hope he'd get free before anyone noticed. 

"Woah, woah, calm down!" Neil heard a thump and then a man rushed into the room followed closely by two younger men. 

Suddenly, the cuffs around his arms thinned, and snaked across his chest and forehead to hold him down and stop his thrashing. Damnit. They had an earthbender.

"Andrew, you didn't need to do that." The older man sighed and Neil heard him walk over. "Hey, sorry about that. You're going to hurt yourself again if you try to move too much, you were severely dehydrated when we found you."

"Don't be an idiot, Wymack. You know exactly what he was trying to do." Another voice scoffed and Neil strained against the strip of stone across his forehead that prevented him from turning his head. It tightened.

The older man- Wymack- sighed. "Let him up, Andrew. We need to talk to him." 

"But he's so much more amusing like this."

The stone holding him down crumbled away, and Neil cautiously sat up. Wymack was next to him, a tall man with a gruff face and tattoos of flames licking up his forearms. Fire Nation. Neil flinched away on instinct, and saw Wymack wince and shuffle backwards. 

"I'm a non-bender, kid." He said softly, with a horrible sort of understanding on his face.

Neil nodded but said nothing and flicked his gaze quickly to the two other men with him. The shorter one had familiar blonde hair, he must have been the one to knock Neil out during the battle. Judging by the smirk and challenge in his eyes when he met Neil's gaze, he had to be the earthbender, Andrew. 

His eyes slid over to the third man in the room, and his whole body froze. It was Kevin Day. 

Kevin Day, the one person outside of the Fire Nation who had seen Neil back when he was Nathaniel, before his mother had taken him and run, the one person who might still remember what he looked like.

Kevin Day, adopted nephew of Firelord Kengo, adopted son of General Tetsuji, adopted brother of Prince Riko.

Kevin Day, who had turned eighteen and fled the Fire Nation with a broken hand, unable to bend, and had remained hidden and presumed dead for two years.

Kevin Day, the Avatar.

Neil was so screwed.

Kevin didn't seem to react to Neil to much, thankfully. His cheeks flushed and he turned his head slightly, as if to hide the "II" branded on his cheek, but nothing else. 

Andrew watched the whole interaction as if it bored him.

"Neil, I need to ask you a few questions, for safety reasons." Wymack spoke up again and Neil turned his attention back to the older man. Neil nodded cautiously.

"We searched the remains of the squadron that had captured you, so we know they didn't have a messenger hawk with them. Did they stop at any outposts or meet up with another group? Is there anyone who might be able to figure out where they were when they died?"

Neil thought about it for a minute, and shrugged. The information was harmless enough for him, so he might as well be truthful. "I don't know. They captured me in a village outside of Ba Sing Se, and I was unconscious for some of the time I was with them. I only woke up two days before we reached the forest where you ambushed them. In the time I was awake, we didn't stop anywhere."

"That makes sense. It's unlikely, then, that they got a message out at any point. We should be just fine." Wymack scratched his short beard and nodded. "What's your name, kid?"

"Neil Josten." The answer came out just a little too fast and Neil internally winced. Wymack didn't seem to notice, but Neil saw Andrew tilt his head.

"That's enough, Coach. Remember what we discussed? I'll let you know if there's anything else that's relevant." Andrew cut off Wymack as he opened his mouth to ask another question. Wymack gave Andrew a sharp look but relented.

"Yeah, yeah. Try not to break this one if you want him to stay." Neil watched in confusion as Wymack turned and left, leaving him alone in the room with a hostile earthbender and the avatar. 

"Great, now let's cut the shit." Andrew straightened up and walked around to the window, leaning against it casually so that Neil had to squint a bit against the sun to see him properly. "You're a waterbender. How powerful are you?"

Neil started a little. Shit. "I'm a healer, but I'm not particularly good. I taught myself mostly, out of necessity." 

Neil held up his scarred arms, a sheepish grin on his face. It was a practised lie, one he'd used many times over, and it came out as easily as breathing. 

Andrew was silent and he fished a lump of stone out of his pocket. He covered it in his palm, and when he opened his hand it was shaped like a water drop. "Cute lie. Let's try this again. You're a waterbender, how powerful are you?"

Neil's grin faltered. "I just told you, I'm a healer."

Andrew chucked the bit of stone in his hand at Neil, the water droplet now a razor thin shard. It embedded itself in the tree trunk next to his face. "I saw the layout of those soldier's little caravan. Did you know there was no water at all on the cart where they had you? It was all held on the other cart. And you were severely dehydrated when we found you. That's a whole lot of work for some pretty healer boy who doesn't know any offensive waterbending. So, one more time. How powerful?"

Neil gritted his teeth. "Fine. Decently powerful, I think. It's not like there are a lot of other waterbenders around to test myself against. I can defend myself well enough."

"Then how come you were caught, _Neil_?" Andrew spoke his name like it was a joke.

"They caught up to us in a region with a drought, and then they smoked me out in a field. Not much water in the middle of the earth kingdom's plains." 

Andrew seemed to ignore his surly tone and Neil didn't realise his slip up until it was too late. "Us, huh? Who were you traveling with? Your teacher? Where are they now?"

"Dead." Neil all but snarled.

"Tragic." Andrew turned to Kevin. "What do you think?"

Kevin shifted his weight. "It's not like I have very many options."

"No, you don't." An expression that might be called a grin swept across Andrew's face, far too bright and far too savage. "Excellent. Get up, rabbit, it's time for your test."

Neil raised an eyebrow and didn't move. "My what?"

"Your test. We're going to go fight. You know, we go throw shit at each other to see who wins? So I can see if you're lying about how good you are?" Andrew crossed his arms. "If you're actually good at waterbending, then we'll make a deal and you can stay here, teach Kevin waterbending. If not, well..."

He didn't need to finish his sentence. It was implied well enough. If he determined Neil wasn't useful, then he'd be too much of a liability to keep around, since he knew where Kevin was hiding. It wasn't much of a choice.

"What if I don't want to make a deal? What do you have to offer me?" Kevin did need to know waterbending, but Neil wasn't willing to let himself die to be that person. Staying here could be too dangerous.

"You don't want my protection, then? From whoever you're running from? Whatever you're trying to hide?" Andrew sounded so confident, so unconcerned.

"What makes you think you can protect me from whatever I'm running from?"

Andrew gestured to Kevin. "I've managed to keep the Avatar safe and hidden, haven't I? Is whoever you're running from more powerful than the whole Fire Nation?"

Neil narrowed his eyes, but Andrew made a good point. Kevin was widely presumed dead, and technically, his father only was working for the Fire Nation, so he was less powerful.

"Where are we going for this fight?" Neil got out of bed, wincing at the stiffness in his legs after not moving for so long. 

"Oh, just down to the river. It'll be fun!" Andrew's grin stretched and he walked out of the room without another glance. Kevin shot Neil a wary look and followed. 

What was waiting for him outside of the room was not at all what Neil had expected. The whole structure was simply a floating platform built around the trunk of a massive tree. Wires connected them to other platforms, and back down to the ground, though several platforms did have ladders. The platforms spanned a massive expanse of the forest, stretching out as far as Neil could see in both directions. It was a perfect little encampment, concealed from the ground but still offering plenty of mobility.

Andrew didn't wait for him to look around, and went right for one of the wires.he grabbed some sort of contraption out of a pile near the edge, centered the wheel of it on the wire, and kicked off. Kevin went next, and Neil watched them both race down to the ground. There wasn't much of a choice, so Neil did his best to copy what they'd done and follow.

The moment his feet left the platform, he dropped the length of his body before the slack ran out and caught him. There was literally no way to slow after that, and he began to rocket towards the forest floor. His hair whipped back from his face, his loose fitting clothes snapped against him in the wind, and he couldn't decide if he loved or hated it. The ground came up too fast and Neil had to let go before he slammed into a tree. Years of practise let him drop off the line into a roll to slow himself down, and he ended up lying on his back in the leaves, winded, but with a grin on his face. He loved it, definitely. 

Andrew's face appeared over his, scowling down at him, and then the earthbender turned and started walking away, apparently satisfied that Neil hadn't cracked his head or anything. Kevin offered a hand, which Neil took, and was pulled back to his feet. He murmured thanks and they quickly moved to follow Andrew together. 

Pretty soon, their little party grew as two other men ran up to join. The taller of the two had dark skin and darker hair, but a brilliant smile, and the other one looked so similar to Andrew that Neil nearly panicked for a moment. 

"Hey! You're the new guy, right? It's good to see you up, we were all pretty worried about you after we got you back here. I'm Nicky, by the way, and that's Aaron. You've already met our Andrew, obviously, and Kevin. Is he really going to make you fight so soon after waking up? How's your head, Andrew hit you pretty hard? Where are we headed, anyway, he usually does the fights out by our little cave system?" The smiling one started off with a cheerful barrage of words that Neil could only blink at. 

"Um. He said we were heading to the river?" Neil offered, eyeing Andrew's back to see if he would give any assistance. Andrew acted like he didn't even know there were people near him.

"The river? But- oh!" Nicky turned and shot a significant look at Aaron who rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah, he's finally found a waterbender, apparently. Joy. Maybe we can get out of this damn forest soon." 

Nicky frowned slightly at him and then turned back to Neil. "Ignore my cousin, he's just grumpy. They both are. So, tell me something about yourself. What was a cute boy like you doing in a Fire Nation cage?"

"We're here." Andrew cut Nicky off with a backwards glance. "Nicky, Kevin, Aaron, go sit somewhere safe." 

Nicky stopped talking instantly, but his face brightened, and he took off towards a tree. He made a little gesture and a jut of rock was suddenly poking out of the ground, just enough for him to vault up to a branch that parted a vine curtain. Kevin did much the same, but he had to help Aaron follow them.

Neil turned his attention away from their audience and followed Andrew through a tangle of vines. Though it was nearly invisible on the other side, they were almost in the river as soon as they passed through. It was a wide, slow thing, cutting through the forest in a winding path. The banks were somewhat narrow, only about double Neil's body length, which combined with the depth, made it completely inaccessible by Fire Nation vessels. Smart. 

Neil's shoes were off before he'd even thought about it, and he jogged right into the water. It had a sandy bottom, with occasional smooth pebbles, and he made it almost a third of the way out before the water started to get past his waist. Neil dropped his feet out and fully submerged himself for a moment, relishing in the security of being surrounded by his element. He'd only lied a little bit to Andrew earlier. As an offensive bender, Neil wasn't the strongest. He knew a couple moves, and had excellent control, but he didn't have great instincts for fights. He knew enough to defend himself from most attackers, but people like his own father could still overwhelm him. However, he didn't know a single waterbender who was better than him at simply controlling the element. That was the key difference, and that was what made water truly _his_.

Neil resurfaced and shook the water out of his hair. He waded back in a little, until the water only reached his knees and nodded to Andrew. 

On the banks still, Andrew uncrossed his arms and stepped into position. "Done swimming?" 

Neil let his arms drop as he also slid into position. He gave a little grin, just to annoy Andrew. "For now."

Andrew grunted, and then a chunk of stone was almost colliding with Neil's head. Damn, he was fast. Neil dropped low to evade it, and sent an answering whip of water flinging at Andrew. It didn't even get close to him, blocked far too soon by a wall of earth that he threw up. Neil barely had time to find his stance again before Andrew was slinging more rock at him, barely bothering to move. Without thinking, Neil gathered water around his fingers, froze it into razor sharp shards, and fired all ten at Andrew. Most were blocked, but one managed to get past the defences and draw a thin line of blood across his cheek. Faint cheers, probably from Nicky, came from the treeline, and Andrew's eyes narrowed. 

"First blood." He monotoned, and hurled another volley of rock.

Neil barely heard Nicky or Andrew, his entire being focused on the rocks and the blood now rolling down the pale cheek. Every single one of his instincts, beaten into him by his father, screamed at him to take the advantage and use, to draw the blood out of Andrew like it was some lost pet, bring it back home to Nathaniel. His returning strike at Andrew was harsher than any of his previous blows, the force of the water whip actually making Andrew stagger back a step, as he wrestled with himself. 

"Neil." Andrew's voice rang out clearly, startling him out of his own head. The sand beneath him buckled and Neil quickly brought the river up around him to support his weight as Andrew began to use the riverbed against him. "Let's play a game."

"A game? Other than this little fight?" Neil brought a wave of water crashing down on Andrew, soaking him from head to toe and washing away the blood. If Andrew wanted to earthbend in the river, then Neil could waterbend on the bank. 

"A truth for a truth. I ask you a question, you ask me one. It's harder to lie in a fight." Sand swept up into the column of water Neil had pulled up around himself, turning it to mud. The mud began to contract around Neil's legs, trapping him. Neil tried to waterbend the mud away, but it was his brute strength against Andrew's, and that wasn't his style. 

"Sure. Where'd you learn to bend?" Neil reached out mentally and remembered the vines hanging off the trees. They were filled with water. Grabbing them with his waterbending, he lashed them around Andrew's legs, locking his feet together in much the same fashion as Andrew was doing with the mud. 

"The army. Where did you learn?" 

That was a cop out answer. The mud continued to constrict around Neil, and the vines continued to constrict around Andrew.

"My teacher."

Andrew's expression said he clearly wasn't pleased with Neil's choices. The sand dropped away, but was quickly followed by the usual volley of stones, which Neil caught in tendrils of water and returned to him, none too gently. He let the vines go.

"My mother gave me away to the earth king's army as soon as I showed signs of bending, since her village had no protection against the Fire Nation soldiers who liked to check in and make sure we weren't doing any bending that they didn't like. I was just too much trouble, apparently." Andrew sent a wall of stone into the base of Neil's water column, bringing him crashing back down. "The army happily accepted me and put me in with the other children whose parents had tossed them out for the dangerous and unforgivable act of being able to earthbend. They trained us to be good little soldiers and protect the big city from the Fire Nation so the precious nobles could continue their little games and pretend that earthbending ability was a fun social status."

The bitterness was evident in his voice, and Neil could tell that those years in the Earth Kingdom army had been far from pleasant for Andrew. He didn't have much time to think on that, though, as he pulled the vines toward him to create a writhing mass of green around his body. The vines lashed out at Andrew, even as he slid along inside them to get behind him. The moment his feet touched down, another volley of stones came flying at his face, and he knew Andrew hadn't been fooled by the vine trick. 

"My parents were an arranged marriage, and my mom never got along with my father. She took me and fled when I was ten, and I learned my waterbending on the road from her. I know I'm stronger than she is- was, but I don't know as many techniques as she did." Neil answered with more spikes of ice, but these ones were easily blocked by Andrew. They were both starting to get really out of breath by now. Sweat shone on Andrew's forehead, or maybe that was just from the wave Neil had thrown at him. "Everything I know came from her, and from having to fight off my father's men when they caught up with us."

Neil shot a blast of water at Andrew, and he redirected it with a curved surface, returning the blow to Neil.

"Who are your father's men?" Andrew flicked more rock at Neil, and he began to suspect Andrew was just toying with him now, waiting for all his questions to be answered before he ended the fight. Oh, well, that just gave Neil a bit more time to figure out how to win. 

"Some firebenders and weaker waterbenders from the northern tribe." Neil brought up water from the river and froze it into a swirling ice storm all around Andrew. It was too thick to see through, so he nearly missed it when Andrew dove underground to escape and popped up near the river. "Why are you hiding Kevin from the Fire Nation?"

The ground buckled under Neil's feet, and he barely had a moment to spring away before a hole opened under him. He brought the water up around him in a massive display, and used it to conceal his movements again as he slid around behind Andrew. Andrew turned to face him as soon as his feet touched down, but Neil was ready this time, and breathed out a stinging, frozen mist. Ice immediately formed around Andrew's feet, holding him to the ground. 

"Poor little baby Riko has some daddy issues and broke Kevin's hand when he found out Kevin was the Avatar. Kevin left, Riko wants him back." Andrew said it so casually, as if he hadn't just admitted that a Fire Nation prince had broken one of the most sacred rules. As if intentionally harming the Avatar, potentially taking away his bending, was no big deal. Even for the Fire Nation, who were hell-bent on trying to get rid of every other bending form, that was too much. 

Neil stumbled a little, and suddenly he was flat on his back, Andrew over him, holding his wrists down with earthbending. That little voice in the back of his head screamed that he could still win this fight, that he could have won at any point, but Neil ignored it and allowed himself to be pinned. Stone slid up his arms, locking him to the ground.

"Why are you holding back?" Andrew breathed, barely audible over the sounds of their combined harsh breathing. 

"What?"

"For this fight. You're holding back. Why?" 

"I'm not." Neil shook his head.

Andrew gave him an intense, searching glance, then got off Neil and began walking away, leaving Neil still pinned to the ground by his wrists. "Liar."

Neil waited to see if Andrew was going to let him up, and sighed when he just disappeared through what was left of the vines. 

A minute or two later, he heard Nicky and Aaron approaching. Nicky made a quick gesture and the earth cuffs crumbled away. 

"Damn, kid. Cute and strong." Nicky offered a hand to help him up, which Neil accepted warily.

"I didn't win, though." Neil thought about trying to brush some of the mud off himself, but there was really too much to make a difference.

"Doesn't matter, I don't think I've ever seen anyone win against Andrew. You definitely lasted the longest." Nicky gave Neil an appreciative once over. "Yeah, I hope Andrew decides to keep you. For now, let's go get you cleaned off."

Neil followed Nicky and Aaron back into the forest, and they headed up into another one of the tree platforms. Nicky used bending to push himself up, while Aaron sullenly refused Nicky's help and pushed aside some vines to reveal a concealed ladder. Neil remembered how easy it was to waterbend with the vines and used them to get up to the platform. 

This platform had another room in it, and a strange sort of piping system that came down from high in the canopy and connected to the roof. It looked like it might have even been Andrew or Nicky's work. Neil could tell right away that it was used to capture water, since he could feel the sizeable tank that was built into the roof. 

"You can use these to clean off, just go inside and pull one of the strings to start the water." Nicky gestured inside. 

Neil gave him an odd look."You guys don't just clean off in the river?" 

"We do usually, but some idiots went and stirred up the water right now so it's all muddy in there." Aaron pointed out, very unsubtle and more than a little rude.

"We have this to store water in case it becomes too dangerous risk being seen at the river." Nicky shrugged, elbowing Aaron. "We don't have to worry about that right now, and it'll probably rain tomorrow anyway, so feel free to use as much as you want."

Neil could tell how big the reserve was so, yeah, he didn't think he really needed to worry about using too much. He nodded to Nicky and headed towards the door.

"Oh, one more thing. Leave your clothes outside and I'll go find you some to borrow. I'll also go ask Andrew if you're staying, but I'm betting that you are." Nicky called, right before Neil shut the door. He flashed a thumbs up and closed it. After a few seconds, he heard the sounds of the harnesses moving in the zip lines and figured they'd left. 

Neil relaxed and peeled off his clothes, taking the time now to properly check himself for injuries. He couldn't feel anything beyond the usual soreness, but it was a habit ingrained into him at this point. After he'd checked himself as much as he could, he turned to one of the ropes hanging from the ceiling and gave it an experimental tug. Sure enough, water came out of one of the rough stone holes in the roof, like a particularly hard rain. It was a nice, if very rudimentary, shower. There was soap on a built in shelf nearby and Neil worked efficiently to scrub away the last of the mud and accumulated sweat. The mud had been covering a few bruises on his arms, but there was nothing more serious than that. All in all, it had been a relatively painless fight. They had both been aiming to show off their own skill, rather than main or hurt, like Neil was used to. It had been... Kind of fun, actually.

There was a thump on the platform that signaled Nicky's return. Neil walked over to the door, waiting for Nicky to crack it open and pass him clothes. Nicky tried to actually come in, which Neil blocked with a panicked bit of water bending. Nicky laughed, oblivious, and passed the clothes in then. 

"I'll be out here when you're done. Unless you've changed your mind about letting me in?" Nicky joked. 

Neil all but slammed the door. "I'll come out when I'm dressed."

He quickly threw the clothes on. They fit well enough, though the pants were just a little bit too short and the shirt was wider in the shoulders than Neil was used to. Nicky was leaning against the wall when he came out, running his hand through his hair to shake the water out one last time. 

Nicky gave him a once over and a grin. "Good news! Probably. Andrew wants to talk to you. He was scowling, but he's always scowling, so I think we get to keep you. He's a few trees over."

Neil nodded, and Nicky got up to show him the way. 

"So, you're an earthbender, too? Did you and Andrew meet in the army or something?" Neil asked, as Nicky set up his harness. 

Nicky turned back to give Neil an odd look. "Andrew told you about him being in the military?"

"He mentioned it during the fight." Neil shrugged.

Nicky gave him another look and stopped fiddling with the harness. "Huh. No, I'm the twin's cousin. I grew up in Ba Sing Se, and I only met the twins when their mom died."

In Ba Sing Se? Neil blinked in surprise. Only nobles and the incredibly poor actually lived in Ba Sing Se. And Nicky, with his unscarred hands and soft hair, could only be one of those. "You're a noble?" 

Nicky laughed. "Not really. My parents are, but just barely. We only managed it because I can bend. I'm not even particularly good, to be honest. Nowhere near Andrew's level."

At the mention of Andrew, Nicky seemed to remember where they had been headed, and turned back to his harness. With a few more tugs he was off, and Neil followed close behind him, thinking about what Nicky had said.

It made sense. From what he'd been able to tell during the scant few times that he and his mother had been in Ba Sing Se, the nobles there treated earthbending like a toy. If you could toss a couple of pebbles around, you were automatically granted higher social status and access to the inner city. As always, the Earth Kingdom nobility was sheltered from the harsh reality of everywhere else. While the army kept the Fire Nation away from the capitol, the Water Tribes, Air Nomads, and outer Earth cities were under restless assault from the Fire Nation. Anyone born a bender was taken and killed, or learned to hide it. Everywhere except Ba Sing Se, where bending was a fun party trick. 

When Nicky and Neil landed at the last tree, another big one with some sort of room built around the trunk, Neil asked the question that had been nagging at him. 

"Nicky, if you were a bender in Ba Sing Se, why did you leave?" 

Nicky shook his arms out and smiled sadly, like he'd been expecting the question. "Two reasons, really. I felt bad when my dad received word of his sister's death, and I wanted to meet my cousins. But also because my parents wanted to marry me off to another noble bender, to increase our status." 

"And you didn't want to marry her?" Neil tilted his head. He understood why an arranged marriage might not be ideal, his parents were an arranged marriage, but something must have been very off if Nicky had elected to leave a comfortable life in Ba Sing Se to hang out in a swampy forest.

Nicky hesitated. "I was already in love with someone. A non-bender. My parents, um, they didn't really approve of him." 

Ah. That made sense. "What happened with him when you came here?"

Nicky's face lit up as soon as he realised Neil wasn't going to make a big deal out of it. "Oh, we write to each other often. He's still in Ba Sing Se, he hasn't found a way to get out of the city yet. It's a bit difficult to leave, but we're working on it. Hopefully he'll come join me here soon." 

Nicky's face softened as he spoke, and the genuine emotion took Neil aback. It had been a very long time since he'd seen that kind of sincerity. It was almost uncomfortable. 

The door slammed open then, startling them both. Andrew glared out.

"Are you going to come in, Neil, or are you going to let Nicky talk your ear off about Erik?"

Nicky at least looked mildly guilty. "Ah, sorry, Neil." 

Another glare from Andrew had him turning away and reaching for the zipline harness again. 

"I'll see you at dinner, I guess." Nicky waved before jumping off, leaving Neil alone with the other earthbender.

Andrew's eyes raked over Neil, his expression utterly inscrutable, before he jerked his head back and stepped aside to allow Neil in. 

Neil stepped into the room, his eyes cutting around the perimeter quickly before settling back on Andrew. It was a bigger room than he'd been in when he'd woken up, but it was more cramped. This one had four beds packed into it, positioned variably around the room. The one in the middle was obviously Nicky's, given the small grouping of paintings that showed Nicky and some other blonde man, both in Earth Kingdom attire. Crammed into a corner away from the others was a fairly empty bed that Neil assumed was Aaron's. Andrew's bed was in between Nicky's and what had to be Kevin's bed. A little Fire Nation headdress sat at the foot of Kevin's bed. Odd, that Kevin had chosen to keep it. 

"So, what do you want?" Andrew's voice was flat and steady now. Neil found himself missing the breathlessness that he'd had when they'd been sparring. It had seemed less closed off. 

"What do I want?" Neil asked, confused.

"You clearly know waterbending, which I can use. I need Kevin to learn waterbending. What do you want in exchange for staying here to teach him that?" Andrew crossed his arms and gave Neil an unimpressed look. "Protection from who you're running from?"

Neil hesitated, and that seemed to annoy Andrew.

"What, don't think I can protect you from your daddy?" Andrew stalked forward until they were barely arm's length apart, but didn't make any move to reach out. "You haven't told me who he is, anyway. A waterbender, working with the Fire Nation? Seems unlikely, given that the Fire Nation has been working hard to kill off all waterbenders first."

"What is this, an offer of protection or another interrogation?" Neil snarled. He hadn't thought Andrew would remember what he'd said during their fight so well, much less be able to connect the dots.

Andrew shrugged, and bared his teeth in a mockery of a smile. "A bit of both. Tell me what you want me to protect you from, little rabbit."

"He's a pet waterbender for Fire Lord Kengo, he bought his life by selling out his tribe. I want protection from him and the Fire Nation. Can you do that?" Neil gritted his teeth. Hopefully, Andrew would buy the story. It wasn't even a lie, not really, which was the uncomfortable part. 

Andrew just stared at Neil for a few seconds, his eyes gold and intense. 

"Yes." Andrew's gaze dropped and he turned away from Neil to go look out the window. He didn't say another word, so Neil took that as his cue to leave. 

Neil exited the room, and snatched up one of the harnesses. He hesitated before he jumped off the platform to zip to the ground, though he couldn't be sure why. 

The sun was beginning to set when he decided to go meet the rest of this weird little group, it having dipped down behind the canopy enough that there was barely any light left. The moon wasn't yet visible, but Neil didn't really need light to see people, anyway. 

Neil found Nicky on the ground easily, standing around a large fire pit with a handful of unfamiliar people. As he approached, he noticed two more strangers struggling towards the fire pit, a large pot between them. They hefted the pot into the fire pit, and it splashed a little between them. The two stood up, and one of them, a woman, stepped towards the pot with her hands out. 

Neil panicked when she held out her hands and the liquid in the pot began to move. Flinging himself behind a tree, he watched the woman who appeared to be waterbending carefully. 

The liquid rose up out of the pot, and Neil realised it was water from the river. It was a light brown, though parts of it became clear and splashed back into the pot as the woman worked. The woman kept doing whatever she was doing for almost a minute, until all the water had fallen back down and she was left working with a ball of compacted sand and silt. Neil sagged against the tree in relief for a moment. She wasn't a waterbender, just another earthbender. He wasn't in danger of being recognised.

Still, he didn't step out from behind the tree until the woman had flung the ball of river debris away and Kevin had supplied a bit of flame to light a fire underneath the pot. With the extra light, Nicky noticed him as soon as he got close to the group.

"Neil! You survived the talk with Andrew!" Nicky slung an arm over Neil's shoulders and pulled him into the circle, completely missing Neil's flinch. "This is the kid I was talking about, the one who lasted, like, twenty minutes against Andrew."

Nicky grinned, and Neil fought the urge to hide behind him as suddenly all the attention was on him. 

"Nice to meet you, Neil. I'm Matt." One of the people who had been carrying the pot, the man, waved at him. "Pretty impressive, lasting that long against Andrew. I don't think I managed even five minutes against him when I first got here, and that was just hand-to-hand sparring."

Matt had a broad, cheerful face, and the sort of easy charisma that Neil had seen a few times in his limited attempts to attend school. 

"He didn't use bending to fight you?" Neil asked. 

Matt shrugged. "Nah, I'm not a bender. Andrew is an asshole, don't get me wrong, but not that much of one."

Interesting. Neil mentally filed both of those little facts away. 

"I'm Dan." The woman who had been doing the earthbending to the pot stepped forward and held out a hand. Neil stared at it for a moment before cautiously accepting her handshake. Her palms were calloused and her grip was very strong. 

"You're an earthbender? I saw you..." Neil trailed off and gestured at the pot. 

Dan glanced back at it and laughed. "Oh, yeah. I grew up in the desert, so I'm a bit better at getting the little bits of dirt and sand out. My skills aren't quite as flashy as other's, but they come in handy." 

The last comment was cheerful, but Neil sensed it was a dig of some sort, directed at someone other than him. He wasn't sure who until the blonde girl next to Kevin let out a little scoff. She flicked her eyes over Neil, gave the distinct eyebrow raise of being wholly unimpressed, then looked at Dan and waved her hand. 

"It's not my fault that my parents never bothered to have me learn anything other than crystalbending. At least it's pretty." 

"It is very pretty." Nicky nodded in agreement. 

"Hey, let's sit down. Wymack and the others should be back any minute." Matt broke up the weird sort of tension that seemed to be building by dropping onto a log that faced around the fire pit. Kevin sat down next, and Neil eyed the slumped avatar for a moment before he picked a spot by himself in the middle of an empty log. 

Dan sat down next to Matt, and Nicky lounged on the end of Kevin's log, but the blonde girl still hadn't sat. She gave Neil a long, considering look, then sat down next to him. Right next to him. 

"I'm Allison." She didn't look at him as she spoke, and instead draped an arm over one of his shoulders casually. The weight of it reminded Neil of a snake he'd once held. 

Almost as soon as they were settled, the sounds of grunting came from the direction of the river, and a group of people began to walk towards the fire pit. As they got closer, Neil could make out Wymack, Aaron, and the faces of an unfamiliar man, and an unfamiliar woman with them. Wymack and the unknown man were each carrying bags of some kind. The unknown man broke off and dumped his bag at the foot of one of the platform trees before coming to the circle.

Aaron claimed a spot between Nicky and Kevin on their log, shooting Neil a quick look across the fire. Wymack grunted and struggled to upend a portion of the contents of the bag he was carrying into the pot before nearly dropping onto the last empty log with a long groan. The unfamiliar woman perched lightly beside him and smiled gently at Neil. 

"Hi, Neil. I'm Abby, I'm the healer. It's good to see you awake." 

Neil's body tensed slightly, something that probably only Allison would notice. He didn't recognise Abby, but that didn't stop his knee-jerk fear that she might know him, somehow. "Oh. Thank you."

She smiled again, motherly and warm. Neil wasn't sure how to feel about that. 

The unfamiliar man approached the fire, and his eyes immediately fixed on Neil with a baleful glare. 

"Hey, Seth. Sit down, you're holding up dinner." Allison inspected her hand, the one that was hanging over Neil's chest. 

Seth remained standing and glaring for a long moment. "I'm not the one we're waiting on."

With a soft thump, Andrew suddenly landed on the ground outside of the circle, and Neil fought hard to not have a full body reaction. Andrew didn't even look at anyone as he simply settled himself on the other side of Kevin. Allison raised an eyebrow at Seth. 

Neil wondered if Andrew had somehow heard what was happening, but Andrew's face gave nothing away.

Seth sat down next to Wymack and Abby, across the fire from Neil and Allison. 

Wymack sat back up and began passing out skewers of cooked meat and roots from what was left in the bag he was holding. While he did that, Kevin reached forward to put his hand on the side of the pot. The fire burned a little brighter, and the water inside began to audibly boil. Neil accepted a skewer when one was given to him, and nibbled at it quietly while the people around him chatted about the day.

"So, how'd the hunting trip go?" Dan asked, looking at Wymack. 

Wymack shrugged. "Seth did most of it. He got out there pretty early this morning. We just came in at the end to make the skewers and help move everything back." 

He half turned towards Seth, but the other man only grunted. Wymack rolled his eyes. "Anyway, we've got a good amount, and the stew should last us for a couple days, at least. I'll smoke the extra that we brought in tomorrow."

Dan nodded. "Great. That gives us, what, a little over a week's worth? Plenty of time to lay low in case anyone comes looking for Neil." 

Neil froze as attention shifted towards him. 

"Are we now expecting anyone to come after him?" Wymack looked at Andrew. "I notice he's still here, so I assume you've allowed him to stay. Did you explain anything to him?" 

Andrew lifted one shoulder and continued chewing. 

Dan sighed.

"We're not expecting anyone. He's Kevin's new waterbending teacher."

The circle was in immediate uproar. Apparently, Nicky's gossiping had only gotten so far. They'd known Neil was a bender who'd taken Andrew in a fight, but not a waterbender. Dan and Matt both stared at Neil in open shock, while Wymack raised an eyebrow. Abby pressed a hand to her mouth, and even Allison drew back a little too look at Neil more closely. Seth didn't react, beyond all tightening of his lips. When the circle finally calmed down again, it was Seth's question that sent Neil's heart racing.

"Which tribe are you from?" 

Neil looked into Seth's blue eyes, the colour much darker than his own, and realised his mistake in assuming Abby was the only Water Tribe person to worry about. 

"Southern." Neil said, after too long of a pause. It wasn't technically a lie, his mother was from the southern tribe. His father was from the northern, though, and he'd grown up in the Fire Nation. Both of those facts were too dangerous to give away, especially around another Water Tribe member who could potentially recognise his parents. Saying he was southern was risky, but it was the smaller of the two tribes. Better odds.

After a long moment of staring, Seth shrugged. "Pity. I'm northern."

Neil succeeded in not relaxing too obviously, though he could still feel the burn of Andrew's gaze on the side of his face. 

"So, you can really waterbend? Beyond healing people?" Dan leaned forward excitedly. 

"He totally can! His fight with Andrew was so cool!" Nicky gushed back, and Neil was perfectly fine to let Nicky recount embellished details to the circle. 

When they finished eating, Wymack made a gesture to Matt and Seth. "Neil, you're staying with these two knuckleheads. Have them show you where you're sleeping." 

He then turned to the rest of the group. "I'll take care of the stew and the left over meats. Andrew, your group is on watch this week." 

Andrew nodded back and stood up, which the rest of his group seemed to take as a cue and got up as well. Allison uncurled from around Neil as got up to follow Dan up a tree. Neil wasn't really sure what to do until Matt came over and held out a hand to pull him to his feet. He accepted, and then followed Matt to a different tree. Seth had gone ahead and was already part of the way up the long ladder to the top. Remembering his trick from earlier, Neil pulled some vines down. 

"Want a ride up?" He offered. 

Matt looked surprised, then excited. "Sure!"

Neil wrapped the vines around them both and then quickly slung their bodies around until they were up at the platform in the tree. It was more difficult than he'd expected, pulling two people up at once, but he managed to not let either of them drop. They made it up well before Seth did, something the other man did not seem to appreciate. He glared at them silently when he reached the platform and slammed the door to the room behind him. Matt didn't seem eager to follow Seth inside, so Neil took the opportunity to learn what he could from the friendlier man. 

"What is watch? And what are you guys, exactly?" Neil asked. 

Matt turned away from the door and towards Neil and grinned a little. "Damn, the monsters really didn't tell you anything, did they?" 

"The monsters?" 

"Andrew's lot. It's what we call them." Matt shrugged. "We all take turns keeping watch at night, we do it in a series of groups and shifts so that everyone still gets plenty of sleep. Each night, a group of people take turns keeping a look out for a few hours, and we rotate which group is in charge of that each week. Last week, it was Seth, Wymack, and I. The week before that, it was the girl's job. So this week, it's up to the monsters."

Matt sighed. "You know what? This is going to be a bit of a long story. Let's sit out here so we don't bother Seth."

Neil nodded. He was tired too, but staying outside for a while longer was worth it to know exactly what kind of group he'd gotten himself into. They sat on the edge of the platform, feet dangling so very high above the ground.

"I'll just start at the beginning, so bear with me for a bit." Matt ran a hand through his hair and smiled again, more weary this time. "Wymack grew up in the Fire Nation, and joined the army. I think he wanted to be a teacher, but you know that doesn't really matter to them. I think his parents were nobles, so he had to join the army in order to keep with family tradition. As a non-bender, he had no shot at getting any position above above a minor command, so he was assigned to bully some Earth Kingdom village on the outskirts with a couple dozen footsoldiers. The particular village he was assigned to had some refugees from the northern Water Tribe, who were trying to flee the Fire Nation. Wymack's squad was ordered to take them prisoner, and Wymack just... Couldn't. Mid-battle, he called the whole squad off, and tried to help the refugees. He managed to escape, but only with two of them, a healer and a warrior." 

Matt paused and jerked a thumb back at the room behind them. 

Neil glanced back. "Ah. Seth and Abby?" 

Matt nodded. "Yeah. The three of them cut across the middle of the Earth Kingdom, somehow. I know that Dan helped them escape Fire Nation soldiers and sand raiders in the desert and then she joined them, and I know there were others who helped them along the way, but none of them will really talk about what happened on that journey. Apparently, one night they made camp in this forest, and found these platforms. Wymack and Seth built some of the rooms, but from what I understand, the platforms and ziplines were already here, abandoned. Dan rigged up the harnesses, and Abby built the water tank. I don't know if they intended it to be a permanent base, but that's what it ended up becoming."

"I think it worked out for the best." Matt shrugged. "Anyway, they ended up conducting raids on Fire Nation supply lines and occasionally stepping in to help some of the villages in the area. They always wore fox masks, as part of some inside joke that Wymack's never explained, and got to be known as the Foxes. We all still wear fox masks, but now it's also to protect the families of those of us that have them. I met them when they came to my village to prevent a Fire Nation raid. My family has no benders in it, so we were never in danger, but some of my neighbours were. I admired them and asked to join when the fight was over. I can't bend, but I'm pretty good with my fists. Wymack, and now Kevin, also help us train with swords. Allison joined us shortly after I did, and we learned that rumours of us had spread all the way to inside Ba Sing Se. Allison's parents are nobles in Ba Sing Se, and she just disagreed with their inaction and blindness. They ignored the slaughter of benders outside the walls, and only allowed her to learn crystal bending to show off to other nobles. She helped us set up a small network of merchants that we can trust to discreetly get us supplies when we need them. There have been a few others that have come and gone since Allison joined, some people only stay with us for a little while. There's also an airbender, Renee, but she mostly splits her time between us and the western air temple. The Fire Nation has come down almost as hard on the Air Nomads as they have the Water Tribes."

Matt paused for a moment, looking off into the forest, and Neil followed his gaze to a tree platform across from them. It was too far away to be sure, but Neil thought he could make out the outline of someone sitting like they were. There was a faint little spark, and then the figure was holding what appeared to be a lit pipe to their lips. 

"It's Andrew. He must have first shift." Matt answered Neil's unspoken question. "His lot came a while after Allison did. Andrew barely spoke to anyone at first, still doesn't, really. Aaron wasn't a whole lot better. Nicky said he took the two of them in after their mother died, and that Andrew used to be in the Earth King's army. Nicky's from Ba Sing Se, too, and he's got a boyfriend still inside, who he's working on getting out. Aside from Nicky, we don't really know much about any of them, to be honest."

Neil chose not to say anything, but he couldn't deny that he was surprised Andrew had shared so much with him when apparently the other Foxes knew so little.

"Kevin came to us a little bit after the monsters did. We still don't really know how he found us. He just appeared in front of our forest one day, weeks after the news that he'd gone missing broke. He says that Renee helped him find us, but we’re still not really sure how he even knew about us. Doesn't really matter, of course, it's not like we were going to turn away the literal avatar. He was badly hurt when he got here, his hand absolutely mangled. Abby healed it as much as she could, but he couldn't bend at all for a while. He's able to bend now, but he says he's not as good as he used to be, especially his fire bending. He can't do much more than a small flame. It's not common knowledge, but Kevin says that Riko, second son of Firelord Kengo, was the one who smashed his hand." 

Matt's face reflected the same sick disbelief that Neil felt when he'd first heard the story. 

"He's our main problem, now." Matt continued. "He didn't take Kevin's loss well, and I don't think the Firelord was happy to lose track of the avatar. General Tetsuji allowed Riko to take control of the elite group of firebenders called the Ravens to hunt Kevin down. They don't know where we are, so they've just been attacking random villages to draw us out. Ideally, we'll eventually be able to take down Riko, Kengo, Tetsuji, and Ichirou, but right now we're just trying to get Kevin back to full strength. Between Andrew, Renee, and now you, he's got teachers for all four elements. I'm glad you're here."

Matt finished talking and smiled, again, this time directly at Neil. He stood up and offered a hand to Neil, who accepted.

"Thanks. I'm glad to be here, too." The words sort of burned in the back of Neil's throat, and Neil wasn't sure if it was because they were a lie, or the truth. 

He followed Matt into the room, mindful of Seth's snoring form in the corner bed, and claimed the empty bed on the other side of Matt's. When he closed his eyes to sleep, he still wasn't sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone was wondering, the place the Foxes are using as their base is the same one that Jett used.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Neil woke up to bright sunshine and loud shouts. He bolted upright in bed, and his eyes locked with Matt's. The other man seemed equally alarmed, so Neil figured this wasn't a common occurrence. Neil scrambled out of bed as Matt reached over to shake the frame of Seth's. Seth sat up with a confused grumble, but alertness returned quickly. Together, the three of them shot out of their room and ziplines to the ground. 

Neil hit the forest floor running, but soon realised he was a good bit faster than Matt or Seth, and didn't actually know where they were going. He slowed himself and followed them to the source of the shouting, which turned out to be the river. 

The scene Matt, Seth, and Neil broke in on was chaotic, to put it mildly. An unfamiliar man was on top of a massive white beast that was thrashing around in the shallows of the river. Mud from the river bed was roiling, churning up to capture and then release the six feet of the animal in the river as Dan and Andrew shouted at each other and fought for control. Wymack and the stranger were also shouting at Andrew, while Nicky seemed to be taking Andrew's side. There were too many overlapping voices for Neil to be able to figure out what the hell was happening.

A strange, echoing roar briefly drowned out all the shouts, and then another one of the beasts dropped down from the sky. It landed in the river, and a woman with white hair and arrows down her face and hands leapt off. Her feet touched down on the riverbank in front of Andrew, and the mud settled down. Slowly, the shouting came to a stop. 

"Hi, Andrew." The woman smiled.

Andrew crossed his arms and glared. "Renee. I won't apologise for attacking your man."

The woman, Renee, nodded. Her smile didn't fade at all. "I know. Sorry for not sending warning." 

She turned to face Wymack and Dan and waved a little, then gestured for her companion to come join them. The stranger jumped down, his feet taking too long to touch the riverbank. Another airbender. He had the same arrows and smile as Renee. Or, nearly the same smile. The stranger's smile was bright and warm, like the sun, where Renee's smile was like light off the edge of a blade. There was something cold and sharp in it that Neil didn't trust. 

The animal in the water shuffled onto the shore, looking oddly disgruntled as it tried to shake itself off. Now that it wasn't moving as much, Neil could see the arrow pattern on it's head, and he realised they were air bison. He'd never actually seen one before.

"This is Jeremy, from the northern air temple." Renee tucked her hands somewhere inside her robes as Allison, Kevin, and Aaron appeared from the vines. 

Jeremy waved and Allison launched herself at Renee for a flying hug. Kevin's face broke out into a smile, the first one Neil had seen on him, and he walked quickly towards Jeremy to embrace the man. 

"So, what's his deal? He another one of your cousins or something?" Andrew's shoulders had relaxed minutely, but his scowl had only deepened at all the hugging. Neil was confused by his remark for a moment before he remembered his mother's history lessons. Almost all the airbenders now were at least distantly related, since the Fire Nation had once wiped out all but one airbender, who was the Avatar at the time. By necessity, airbenders had to procreate with non-benders or benders of other kinds in order to keep lines from crossing, which resulted in the Air Nomads being the smallest of the four nations. 

"No, Jeremy's family was part of the group that reconstructed the northern temple and was granted the ability to bend by the spirits in thanks." Renee shook her head. "He's here to help me transport you all to the western air temple."

There was a moment of stunned confusion, and then everyone started talking at once. It got very loud again, very quickly, but Andrew stood in the middle of it all absolutely silent. Renee didn't say a word either, simply locked eyes with Andrew and left Jeremy to try to answer the questions being shouted. 

"Hey!" Wymack's voice cut through the air, booming and masculine, and Neil flinched towards Matt on instinct. Fortunately, no one but Matt seemed to notice. Everyone quieted instantly.

"Everyone calm down and get around here. It sounds like we've got some things to discuss." At Wymack's urging, they all gathered into a loose, lopsided circle. Neil ended up with Matt to his right and Kevin to his left, Andrew on Kevin's other side. 

"What's going on at the temple?" Wymack asked gruffly.

Renee sighed. "We're going to be under attack. Jeremy came to us last week, bringing routine news from the northern temple, and he passed over a convoy of Fire Nation supply trains. There weren't many, and they were moving exceptionally slow, but they were close enough to us that their direction couldn't be mistake. They stopped at a village a few days away from us, and I was able to infiltrate them. They don't know where we are yet, since the temple is well hidden, but it's only a matter of time. The western temple is where we house many of our monks in training. I know how to fight, Jeremy knows how to fight, and several of my sister monks can, but we have so many children who can't. There isn't enough time to reach out to the other temples."

Renee looked very grim when she finished, and the ever-present happiness on Jeremy's face had also noticeably dimmed. 

"And?" Andrew asked. "You're leaving something out."

"I am. My apologies." Renee made steady eye contact with him and nodded before turning back to look towards Wymack again. "The soldiers I spoke to when undercover were just infantry, out gathering supplies, but I was able to determine a few key facts about their commanding officers that have lead me to an unfortunate conclusion. I believe the Ravens are heading the attack."

Next to Neil, Kevin went pale and drew in an audibly shaking breath. 

Wymack nodded solemnly. "What do you want us to do?"

Relief shone on Jeremy's face, he clearly hadn't expected their help like Renee had. "If we leave now, we can probably make it back before they get close to the temple. We want you to help us attack them before they figure out where the temple is, exactly. It'll give the elders time to send word to the other temples to help with an evacuation so we can get the children out safely. "

Wymack looked at Dan, who nodded. 

"We can do that. Everyone, pack up." 

The circle broke up into groups, and Neil was pulled along with Matt. 

"What's going on?" Neil asked as they headed back into the forest. 

"We're going with Renee, so we've got to make sure our base isn't discovered while we're gone." Matt said, hurrying towards a tree. He held a hand out to Neil expectantly, and Neil used the vines to pull them both up to the platform above. The room on this one was strange, the walls were lined with what appeared to be several closets.

"Seth, Allison, and Wymack will take care of putting the food away and packing enough for the trip, and Abby, Aaron, and Dan will make sure we have enough water. Andrew, Kevin, and Nicky are in charge of putting all the ziplines and ladders away so the base can't be found from the ground while we're gone. You and I have to get the weapons and masks." Matt spoke while rummaging through the closet closest to the door. He pulled out two massive bags and tossed them to Neil, who caught them unthinkingly. Moving to each closet, Matt pulled out an assortment of clothes, masks, and weapons, instructing Neil to wrap the weapons and masks in the clothes from the same closet and cram the bundles into the two bags. At the end, he turned to give Neil a once-over, then pulled out a final set of clothes and a mask. 

"These should fit well enough, for now. Are you trained in any weapons?" He asked. 

The question gave Neil a momentary pause. He decided it was better, this time, to not bother with lying. "I... Knives." 

Matt didn't blink, just pulled a set of knives out of a closet and tossed them to Neil to wrap. Neil closed the second bag and picked it up, leaving the first one for Matt. They left the room, and Matt paused on the edge of the platform to pull the ladder up. They slipped the harnesses on and slid down to the ground, then hurried back towards the riverbank. Neil noticed with more than a little awe that the weight of the bag didn't seem to slow, or even bother Matt. The man had to be incredibly strong. How strong must Andrew be, then, if he could take Matt down in hand to hand combat in less than five minutes?

They were the first ones back to the river bank, and Matt helped Jeremy and Renee load the bags onto the saddles of their bison. Aaron, Abby, and Dan were the next ones to return, all carrying a handful of canteens. Dan passed one to Matt and then one to Neil. He slung the strap over his neck wordlessly, the weight of the water oddly comforting on his hip. 

Wymack, Allison, and Seth came back then, the two men each carrying small sacks of food. One went to each bison, and Abby handed each of them their water canteens. Andrew, Kevin, and Nicky got back last, and accepted their canteens from Aaron. After one last check by Wymack, they prepared to get on the bison. Allison, Seth, Wymack, Abby, Dan, and Matt all got on Jeremy's, and Neil was preparing to follow when Andrew's voice stopped him. 

"Rabbit. You're with us." 

Neil turned to look at Andrew, who simply quirked an eyebrow. 

"Their bison is full. We've still got room." Andrew said, but the slight tilt of his head gave it away. 

Neil glanced up at Matt, who was giving Andrew an annoyed look. "You don't have to go with him if you don't want to."

Neil looked between the two bison and saw that Andrew was right, anyway. Jeremy's had seven people already, where Renee's only had five. 

"It's fine." Neil told him, and let Nicky pull him into the saddle. 

Renee and Jeremy shared a quick look, and then made identical clicking noises. The bison underneath them gave a sickening lurch that had Neil grabbing at the side of the saddle, and then they were airborne. Neil's hand unconsciously drifted towards his canteen, and the water inside. He tried to keep his eyes on the other people in the saddle with him, instead of on the rapidly disappearing ground. Aaron looked relatively unbothered, if rather annoyed. Neil was beginning to realise that was just Aaron's default expression. Nicky looked queasy, and Andrew looked downright murderous. Kevin, by contrast, seemed to be enjoying the ride, moving towards the bison's head to talk to Renee about something that got lost in the wind. 

It was an uncomfortably long ride, thought his unease with being in the air faded the longer they remained in the sky. Around midday, they opened the sack that Seth had brought and passed around chewy strips of dried meat and berries. 

After they'd eaten, Kevin and Renee had some sort of discussion that resulted in Kevin taking over the reins to the bison and Renee jumping right off the side. Neil almost panicked until Renee came right back up. Her body was parallel to the ground, aligned along the staff she had kept on her back, which apparently opened up into some sort of glider. Jeremy waved when he caught sight of her, then managed to talk Wymack into taking the reins to his bison and jumped off to join her. Neil watched the two of them swoop and dive around each other, Jeremy's grin so bright that it hurt Neil's eyes, while Renee had a softer, more contented smile. Watching them fly was easy, Jeremy's glider had blue wings and he had a more aggressive style. He flew in grand loops and spirals, cutting close and fast between the two bisons. Renee had an orange glider, and her style was more subtle. She was more graceful and slower in her patterns, but she could execute hairpin turns and pull out of steep dives with an ease that spoke of years of hard learning. Neil got the feeling she was a tough teacher for Kevin. 

When the sun got close to the horizon, they were approaching a massive rift in the ground, right at the foot of a mountain range. Jeremy and Renee steered the bison towards the rift, and Neil caught sight of a white, turbulent river deep down. It must have been what created the chasm in the first place. 

He didn't see the temple until they had nearly landed, though. The buildings were upside down underneath the lip of the rift, and appeared to have been cut out of the very cliff face, the exact same stone as the wall behind them. The bison landed on the highest and widest terrace of the one of the towers, and everyone slowly disembarked. Here, the underside of the lip of the cliff was the length of a boat above them. It wasn't close, but Neil was surprised to find that he'd gotten used to the high canopy of the forest. He wasn't the only one, apparently, judging by the nervous looks both Kevin and Matt were shooting at the roof. By contrast, Neil noticed that both Nicky and Andrew seemed deeply relieved to have their feet on solid ground again. 

Neil walked a little bit away, just to the edge of the terrace, to take another look at the river at the bottom of the chasm. It was wider than he'd initially thought, but still barely big enough to fit even one of the air bison on it. Not that one of them would have wanted to. The water frothed and crashed against black rocks, and even the parts where it calmed down seemed dangerous. Neil knew instinctively that, in a river like this, the parts that looked calmest from the top usually hid the harshest currents just below the surface. 

"Usually, the kids play in here. They use the rocks like an obstacle course to learn how to maneuver with the gliders." Renee spoke, and Neil startled. He hadn't heard her approach. 

"Sorry." Renee smiled serenely. "I know I make you uncomfortable."

Neil didn't have a response for that. "Where are the kids now?" 

"Inside. They know it's too dangerous to play outside right now." Renee pointed down to one of the lower terraces, where several small bison were lounging around, their mouths full of hay. The side of her mouth quirked into an expression that was a little more mischievous. "Although, I fear the girls are going to start an all-out prank war if we don't let them out soon. There's already been a record number of pies thrown in the past two days."

"Have you been caught in the pie wars?" Neil joked. 

"Oh, certainly. Why do you think I offered to come get you guys?" Renee raised an eyebrow and Neil realised the conversation had been her way of trying to show him that she was not someone he needed to be afraid of. He could admit that it had been rather effective.

They turned back to the Foxes and Jeremy, who had gotten everything off the two bison. Jeremy and Renee both said a few hushed words to their bison and then the two animals took off again, drifting down lazily to a different terrace of a different tower. An older woman and a young girl came out of the temple, both dressed in the same airbender garb as Renee and Jeremy. The woman had the arrow tattoos that marked her as a full-fledged bender, but the girl's hands were still clear of them. Jeremy hung back as Renee rushed over and embraced both of them. She spoke with the girl for a minute, and then the girl turned and disappeared back into the temple. The woman followed Renee back to where the Foxes were waiting. 

"This is Stephanie." Renee introduced the woman. "She's agreed to help us make a pre-emptive strike against the Ravens, tonight." 

Tonight? Neil glanced back out at what he could see of the sky beyond the cliff ledge. It was already a burnt orange. Sunset would be very soon. How quickly did Renee want to move? 

"She's helping us? What about her vow of peace or whatever it is you airbenders call refusing to fight back?" Andrew spoke up, his tone mocking. 

Renee stared at him quietly for a moment, but it was Stephanie who answered. 

"I have taken a vow to spread peace, but I'm not foolish enough to ignore warlike intentions when I see them. It is my belief that it will come to a fight with these Ravens regardless of what we do, and I would rather do whatever I can to protect the children we have here." Stephanie's tone was calm, but there was a hint of reproach in it. "Besides, I will always help Renee when she asks, even if I am not her mentor any more."

At Stephanie's last words, Andrew broke eye contact with Renee to look at the older monk. "I see. What's the plan, then?"

Renee nodded. "My charge, Robin, tells me that the Ravens are camped out a little ways from here, roughly halfway between us and the village where I last met them. She says there are about ten Ravens, plus twenty more regular soldiers. They have catapults, two of their small drill engines, and five war balloons. I think a few of us should go in tonight, and sabotage their equipment. Not all of us, because Stephanie's bison won't be able to make a quick getaway if she's too loaded down, but also because that means some of us will still get a full rest if they retaliate."

Dan nodded. "Good idea. Unless there are objections, I think we should only send Andrew, Nicky, me, and Allison. We can use bending to jam their machines, and I don't think we should risk Kevin around Riko without all of us there. I don't want to send Neil in yet, either. He should be our secret weapon. That puts the group at five, including Stephanie?"

She paused, but no one objected. Out of the corner of his eye, Neil saw Seth cross his arms at not being on the list. 

"Six." Renee pulled her staff off her back and leaned on it. "I'm coming with you. We'll leave after sundown. Be ready."

Renee turned and walked back into the temple. Without saying a word to anyone else, Andrew followed her. 

Dan only sighed in response, so Neil figured he was allowed to do that. 

"No one else will be coming to this level, so feel free to set up whatever you'd like. If you need anything, just let me know. I'll go bring some mattresses for you to sleep on." Stephanie turned to Wymack and her smile turned into something very, very tired. "Thank you for coming."

Dan pulled Allison and Nicky aside, presumably to talk strategy, and Neil was left with Matt, Seth, Kevin, and Aaron. Wymack and Abby took it upon themselves to sort through the gear bags together, talking quietly to each other. 

"There's an ongoing bet on if they're together or not." Matt stage-whispered. "You can talk to Allison if you want in." 

Neil glanced over at them, and just shook his head. "I don't want to bet on their personal stuff."

Mat shrugged. "Suit yourself. We bet on everyone's personal stuff around here, constantly. There's already a bet going on your sexuality, if you want to settle that for us."

"Just don't be another fag. We don't need any more gay shit." Seth bit out, shooting a glare at Nicky. 

Neil waited for Aaron to say something to defend his cousin, but the other man was silent. 

"Hey, shut the fuck up, man. Don't take out your issues on Nicky, you know we don't tolerate that shit." Matt was the one who ended up saying something. 

Neil kept his face impassive and lifted one shoulder. "Sorry to disappoint, but I don't swing." 

"So you're also a fag, then." 

"Seth!" Matt slapped a hand on the ground. 

"No, I'm not gay or straight. I don't swing." Neil had to work slightly to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"Looks like everyone gets to keep their money." Kevin finally spoke, and his tone said he couldn't care less about the bets. "Neil, can I talk to you? In private?"

Neil nodded, but his entire body instantly went on high alert. He got up and followed Kevin to the opposite side of the terrace from where Dan, Allison, and Nicky were talking. His mind was racing. Had Kevin finally remembered him? They'd only met once, right before Mary had taken him and run, but it was possible. Had Andrew mentioned something, and Kevin had realised Neil's father was the Butcher? 

Kevin stopped near the railing and turned to face Neil. 

"I know you made some deal with Andrew to train me, but I want to work that out. Obviously we can't train here, since there's no water, but I want to start as soon as we get back to the forest. Andrew and I train every day, down by the river bank, in addition to the sparring that the Foxes do together." Kevin's face was tight and serious as he spoke. "Can you do that?" 

Neil wasn't sure what Kevin was looking for, beyond a simple answer, but that was all he had to give. "Yes." 

"Good." Kevin searched Neil's face for a few more seconds before turning and walking away. 

Stephanie had brought out mattresses while they were talking, and someone had started a small fire in a brazier. Kevin pulled a pile of the mattresses off to the side, away from the fire, and lay down in one. Matt and Seth had arranged the rest of them around the brazier.

Andrew and Renee had returned, and all the Foxes who were going out had changed into the black garb and fox masks that Neil had helped pack. They were all lightly armed, and the firelight caught on Andrew's hair and the knives hanging at his hips as he jumped onto Stephanie's bison. There was no fanfare or farewell as they left, just silence and a few waves from Matt. 

Neil rejoined Matt, Seth, and Aaron around the fire. They passed around some more strips of dried meat and berries in silence for a while, until Seth spoke up. 

"You know what? I should have been on that mission." Seth's expression was twisted and sour, and he sent a glare over the fire at Neil. "We're not useless, just because we can't bend, and I'm so sick of them acting like we are. Kevin didn't go, because he's the precious Avatar and we can't let anything bad happen to him. Neil didn't go, 'cause he's our "secret weapon", and what? We don't go because we're just the useless twin and two warriors?" 

"Hey." Aaron, not having been paying much attention, growled at Seth's words.

"We didn't go because it's just a sabotage mission. Earthbending is useful for jamming up gears and machinery." Matt tried to placate Seth.

Seth scoffed and waved a hand. "It's not just this mission. It always goes like this. Kevin's always the most important, and everyone's always offering to suck Andrew's dick like they can get him save us or something. Allison can barely earthbend, so no one ever cares about what she can do, and no one ever cares about what we can do. I'm better than anyone else here with a spear, but no one gives a fuck because I can't move pebbles around with my head." 

"Maybe no one likes you because you're a whiny bitch all the time." The words were out of his mouth before Neil even realised he'd decided to speak. Whoops. 

Seth's attention snapped to Neil and he sneered. "You think you're special now? Just give it a few weeks. As soon as you've taught Kevin a little waterbending, they'll forget you, too."

That wasn't exactly the worst thing. In fact, that was probably one of the better outcomes that this whole arrangement with Kevin and Andrew could have. Teach the Avatar for a little while, then quietly slip away and be forgotten. He could have his few moments of pretending to have a home before going back to a life on the run, more alone than ever without his mom.

Neil shrugged. "Maybe."

Suddenly tired of the conversation and contemplating his future, Neil rolled into his back on the mattress and pulled a blanket up over his head. 

He heard Matt shift and continue to argue with Seth for a few more minutes, but they let him pretend to sleep. 

\---

The next morning, Neil woke up to shouting again, this time accompanied with the acrid smell of smoke. For a moment, he was frozen, trapped again in a dry little Earth Kingdom village, his mother's lifeless body slumped against him as the field burned around him. A hand clapped onto his shoulder, and Neil nearly panicked, ready to fight, but the contact vanished as quickly as it had come and something heavy and soft was dropped into his lap. 

Neil looked down at a mass of black fabric, and then up to see Matt's serious face. 

"Get changed into those, quickly, and put on a fox mask. The Ravens attacked the village and they're burning it." 

Neil staggered up to his feet and blinked sleep out of his eyes. Matt, Kevin, Seth, and the other boys were changing around the mattresses, unselfconsciously stripping down with an efficiency born of necessity. Neil couldn't do that. Could risk it, not when it meant that his scars could uncover his lies. He bundled the clothes up to his chest and darted into the air temple. Fortunately, no one was around and he was able to find a dark corner to change in. The black outfit was heavy and a little snug, meant to be easy to move in without having loose parts to get caught by, and strangely comfortable. The mask was wrapped in the shirt, and Neil pulled it on. Clearly, it had been designed with combat in mind. It fit close enough to his face to not restrict his peripherals, but Neil knew that meant it also would not hide his eye colour. Blue eyes were rarely found outside of the Water Tribes, and there'd be no hiding his lineage to someone like Prince Riko if he was forced to start bending. He'd just have to survive this fight and try not to bend. 

Neil gritted his teeth and wrapped his fingers around the hilts of the knives he'd been given. They were longer than the ones Lola had taught him on, but not by much. They would work. 

He left the temple and was quickly swept up in the flurry of motion. There seemed to be a whole herd of bison landing and taking off from the terrace, Stephanie and a few other airbenders joining with them to help carry people and to help fight. He ended up on Renee's bison again, with Wymack and the monsters. Nicky was obviously exhausted from the previous night, but nothing showed on Andrew's face. Even when Kevin reached out and touched Andrew's wrist lightly, Andrew barely reacted other than to fix Kevin with a heavy stare. Some sort of conversation happened between them, but it wasn't anything Neil knew enough to understand. 

The ride to the village was dead silent, everyone watching the ever growing plume of smoke. Renee and Jeremy took their bisons low before they reached the village, and sent them away again as soon as everyone was off. Neil understood, they couldn't risk their bison near the Ravens. They didn't run, but walked towards the village. Neil knew it was to save their energy for the fight, but the tension was clear in everyone's shoulders and the brutal pace that the taller Foxes set. 

Hell broke loose as soon as the Ravens spotted them. 

Gouts of flame shot overhead and their group split down the middle, everyone diving to the sides to avoid it. Neil used the momentum from his roll to get back to his feet, springing up. The part of his brain that was used to being on the run came to life and took over, only this time he ran into the fight. The village was already in ruins, and a few bodies were laying on the ground, wide-eyed and dead. A few of the villagers had decided to fight back, pushing up against the non-benders in Fire Nation garb with pitchforks, makeshift clubs, and one rusty sword. Most of the villagers appeared to have fled into the fields. Fortunately for them, it seemed like the Ravens were more interested in trashing the village than killing the people. Unfortunately for the Foxes, that meant that the whole attack was a set-up, meant to draw out the saboteurs, and it was a successful one. 

Neil ran between buildings, turned a corner, and swung under a surprise fist from one of the infantry. The soldier in front of him was clearly not a Raven, and it was obvious from their first failed attempt at a punch. They wielded the sword gracefully enough, but every movement was telegraphed clearly, and Neil had no trouble whirling to avoid their attacks. Neil's knives were in his hands like familiar, hated friends, and he answered every attack from the soldier with a slash. The soldier's armour was good, but Neil knew every weak point of Fire Nation armour by heart. By the time the solider dropped at last, the siren song of their blood was deafening. Neil turned away, but he didn't get far before another figured landed in front of him. Neil knew instantly that he was facing a very, very different opponent this time.

The woman in front of him was dressed in Fire Nation colours, but her armour was softer, designed for freedom of movement rather than impressive silhouettes. It meant she'd be fast, and Neil couldn't rely on weak points. She had no helmet, her hair pulled back, and an untouched scimitar hung at her hip. Her hands were balls of white skin with soot-grey smudges across the knuckles. The grin on her face was both smug and vicious as she looked Neil over, straightened up, and cracked her neck. This was a Raven. 

The woman whirled into action like a viper uncoiling, and Neil dropped to his hands to avoid the sudden rush of heat. There was no way he could waterbend against her, the land was to dry, so he'd have to get in close. As soon as the heat vanished overhead, he rolled to the side and sprang to his feet, as she scorched the earth where he'd been laying. She redirected her flame, following him, and Neil threw his body into the air at the side of a wall. As he turned, the fire followed, but the Raven's feet didn't turn. She'd planted her feet. Neil felt his father's grin creep across his face. He began a routine of whirling and dodging, jumping over and ducking under, constantly moving around her area of vision and slowly working in closer to her. The Raven called out taunts as he did, saying she'd come to fight and not dance, but Neil shut out the words. He worked in closer and closer. When she was just out of his reach, he whirled around to her side, bringing his knives out, and got behind her back. She was too slow to turn to face him, and he slammed the handles of both knives into the back of her skull with a crunch. She dropped like a rock and didn't get up. Neil didn't stick around to check if she was breathing. 

He ran towards the heart of the village, and then nearly froze at the edge of the square. There was fire, there was ash, and there was Riko Moriyama advancing on a terrified Kevin Day. Kevin's mask was shattered on the ground and the battle still raged around them, Andrew nowhere to be seen.

Before Neil could do anything, another Raven stepped in front of him, and Neil threw himself back to avoid a whistling blow. The Raven came at him, though there was something off about this one. The man's face was pinched and pale, too pale to just be nerves, and he came at Neil with a bokken. Neil realised, as he whirled around and redirected the staff, that this Raven wasn't a firebender, wasn't even Fire Nation at all.The bokken came down, and Neil reached up for it. He pulled it to the side, away from his head, and used the momentum to try to spin the man away from him. Instead, the Raven let go of the staff and jumped into a roundhouse kick that was just a little higher than should have been possible. Neil ducked under it and jammed the bokken at the man's feet as he landed, but the Raven's footwork was impeccable and it didn't even trip him up. In one smooth motion, the Raven fell into a crouch, grabbed his bokken, and lunged forward. Neil leaned back, narrowly missing the tip of the bokken, and hard wind slammed into his cheek, knocking him to the side. Airbending. This Raven was an airbender. 

As soon as Neil knew, it was easy to see. The Raven clearly favoured his staff, and didn't know much airbending, but his fighting style was was just a little different than the Raven woman Neil had dropped. His feet were far lighter, for one, the battle between them turning into a deadly dance of wood and steel as they jumped together to exchange blows and then sprang apart. The signature kicks of the Fire Nation were present, but the airbender Raven never went for the direct, head-on jabs. He moved in circles, smooth continuous motions that flowed into each other, like air, like water. Neil knew this wasn't a fight he'd be able to win easily. 

Neil went in for a blow, the twin knives biting into the wood of the bokken as the Raven blocked, and the ground rumbled under their feet strangely. There was a sharp cracking sound behind the airbender, and both men were momentarily distracted as they glanced over. The square where Riko was had started to crumble as Kevin actually began to fight back. Their fight was still mostly Kevin dodging whatever Riko threw at him, but at least there was some effort. 

Neil's attention snapped back to his own fight when the airbender's feet planted on his chest, throwing him back a bit. Neil didn't go in for another attack right away, instead trying to circle the Raven. Kevin was fighting back, but it wasn't enough to keep Riko at bay for long, and Andrew was still nowhere to be found. Neil needed to get to Kevin, and that meant getting past this Raven. Unfortunately, his opponent figured out what he was trying to do and blocked him, then went in for a blow. Neil spun past the bokken, but then had to jump back again to avoid a razor-sharp gust of air. He slid down into a turning crouch and tried to swipe at the Raven's ankles, to get him to move out of the way, but only succeeded in gaining a little bit of ground in the direction of the square.

Just as Neil was about to push against the Raven again, something new pushed at the edge of his awareness. Water. There wasn't much of it, and it seemed far away, but it was enough to work with. Neil chanced a look at where he felt it and saw that Kevin and Riko's battle had knocked over two water barrels on the other side of the square, and the water was spilling across the cobblestones. Unfortunately, what had knocked over the barrels was Kevin. Riko had managed to throw him into a wall and was now advancing on the cornered Avatar. Neil knew he couldn't play around any longer. 

Gritting his teeth, Neil dropped his blades and put out his hands in front of him. Confused, but unwilling to waste the opportunity, the Raven rushed at him. Neil reached, and _pulled_. The blood in the Raven's ankles obeyed, and the man fell flat on his back. The impact of his head against the stones was audible, but Neil couldn't waste time to see if the Raven was dead. He sprinted towards the courtyard.

The moment his foot landed in the puddling water, a loud crack echoed through the square as the water froze instantly. Riko almost tripped as he suddenly found himself rooted to the spot. It didn't stop him, though. With a snarl, Riko's feet began to steam and he pulled himself free, whirling to face Neil across the courtyard. Riko's mouth cut up into a sharp smile. 

"Last I checked, Kevin wasn't running around with a waterbender. Did he get tired of the earthbender so quickly? Or did the earthbender get tired of him?"

It was so clearly a taunt meant to get at Kevin, and yet it still worked. Behind Riko, the Avatar was struggling to get to his feet again, and the flinch that went through him at Riko's words was almost pitiful. 

"Oh, no, he's not gone. Hasn't he come by to say hi to you? I'm sure he's just been busy, don't take it so personally." Neil grinned his father's grin behind the fox mask.

Riko's smile faded and a sudden wave of heat exploded across the square. All the water evaporated with a hiss, and Neil barely managed to pull some of the vapor towards him before it escaped. As soon as Riko cooled, Neil froze the mist into razor shards and flung them at Riko. Riko responded with a gout of fire so intense that it melted the brick wall behind where Neil had been standing, but Neil saw that at least one of the ice needles had managed to scrape Riko's cheek, drawing a thin line of blood. Unfortunately, the ice needles had evaporated, which meant Neil was out of water. His knives were still laying on the ground behind the airbender, and there was no way he could get to them now. Riko flung a fireball at him and he dodged, but it was a close call. He could feel the blistering heat on his cheeks as he ducked past attack after attack from the prince, unable to do more than try to survive. If it kept up too much longer, Neil knew he'd run out of choices. He'd either have to run, flee, or bloodbend. Riko's attention was on him, however, not on Kevin, so Neil could at least hope the Avatar had gotten some sense into him and run away. He couldn't take his eyes off Riko to check. 

Riko did a spinning kick that launched three wide bands of fire towards Neil, and he knew he wouldn't be able to dodge all of them. He leapt over the first one, and just barely passed under the second. He landed hard on the ground, curled into a ball, and simply shut his eyes to wait for the third one. Just as it was about to hit, the world behind Neil's eyelids suddenly darkened and the heat of the fire vanished.

Neil cautiously opened his eyes, and was met with a smooth half dome of rock that curved up over his body. Footsteps sounded from behind him, and Riko's snarl came from in front. Neil uncurled and looked back to see Andrew and Kevin. Kevin still looked utterly terrified, while Andrew's face gave away nothing but rage and a slight amusement. As they reached Neil, the dome slid down and Andrew's eyes met Neil's. For an instant, Andrew's expression went completely devoid of anything. Then he turned back to Riko. 

"There you are. And here I thought you'd gotten tired of playing house with the Avatar." Riko was nearly spitting with fury.

Andrew crossed his arms. "I'm not gone yet. I thought we had an understanding about you touching my stuff?"

Kevin knelt down next to Neil and pulled him back to his feet. "We need to go back to the others."

"He's not yours, earthbender. He's Fire Nation, he's a Raven, and he belongs with me." Riko stepped forward and Neil's mouth was already open.

"He's a Raven? Is that why you broke his hand and tried to take away his bending? I thought it was because you couldn't stand the idea of being overshadowed by the Avatar in your own little fan club. I mean, how embarrassing, right? You do all this work, talking your uncle into putting you in charge of your very own soldiers, and then Kevin has the audacity to actually have ability? I guess I understand it, how would you ever get anyone to respect you with the Avatar right there, huh?" 

Riko's eyes blazed with fury and Andrew reached a hand back to shove at Neil's chest. 

"Get the fuck out of here."

Kevin grabbed Neil's arm, and Andrew threw up a stone wall between Kevin and Neil and the village square, blocking off their sight of Andrew and Riko. 

Kevin pulled Neil away, and Neil let him. They ran towards the edge of the village, and Neil spotted Renee on her bison with Allison, both of them looking tired and grim. They were fighting off two Ravens. Neil couldn't do anything without his knives or water, but they didn't seem to need to help anyway. As he and Kevin got close, Renee managed to put her Raven down, and Allison's fell a few seconds later. Kevin jumped up to the bison's saddle, and Renee extended a hand to pull Neil up. 

"What's going on?" Neil asked, turning back to face the village. The smoke had largely cleared, and there didn't seem to be any more movement in between the buildings. As he watched, Seth came darting out of the fields behind the bison and vaulted up into the saddle. 

"The fields are clear. We've got everyone." He panted. 

Allison nodded and Renee jumped up to her bison's head. 

"We managed to evacuate the village. Robin flew in a little while ago to let me know that they've managed to move everyone from the temple to a safe house that's a bit closer to the Southern Air Temple. It's not ideal, but it's far enough away that the Ravens can't get to us in time. There's no need to fight them here any more." Renee gave a hard look at the center of the village. "We're just waiting on Andrew now."

As she said it, Andrew came around a corner and was barrelling towards the bison. With a powerful leap and a well placed earth spike, he launched himself upwards. Like it was a practised maneuver, Renee made a clicking noise and her bison shot upwards, throwing everyone to their backs in the saddle. She caught Andrew with a spiral of air and he landed lightly in the saddle, his face tight. As soon as they pulled above the rooftops of the village, Neil could see why Andrew had come running. He'd managed to trap Riko in a dome of rock, but it was clear that the trap wouldn't hold for much longer. Glowing cracks were already building up as Riko superheated the air inside, pressurising the dome. Neil had no idea how he wasn't frying himself. Nicky and Seth came to the side with Neil to watch as the dome shattered. From the distance they were at, Neil could just barely make out the sheer rage on Riko's face when he spotted them escaping. He could clearly see, however, when Riko raised a hand towards them and screamed as a blue power tore through his body. The blue light left Riko's palm and jumped towards them, Neil's body already in motion as his survival instincts threw him backwards. Seth wasn't quick enough, and the light struck him in the chest. 

Seth's body hit the other side of the saddle with a dull thump, and Renee's bison roared in protest. Renee quickly took them up, the steepness of their ascent pressing everyone down and preventing movement until they were high enough that Riko couldn't reach them. As soon as they levelled out, the burnt smell of the blackened hole in Seth's chest became unbearable. Allison threw herself at him with a wail, pulling him towards her so that he slumped into her chest rather than over the side of the saddle. Neil watched the ragdoll way his head fell against Allison's shoulder, and he knew that was it. Seth was dead.

A quick glance at Kevin's face confirmed his suspicion. He was staring at Seth with a dread that spoke of familiarity. Whatever Riko had thrown at them, Kevin had recognised it. 

"Allison." Kevin had to shout to be heard over the wind, but the woman just shook her head. 

"Renee, we need to get to Abby quickly." Allison ignored Kevin and shouted to Renee. Renee glanced back, and her expression was telling. She also knew there was no hope for Seth. 

"Allison, he's gone. It was lightning that Riko threw. There's no way he could have survived a hit like that without training." Kevin tried again, and Neil watched Allison snarl at him. Holding his hands out to her, palm up, Neil yanked his mask off and inched over to her. He was banking on her assuming he knew how to heal. He only knew a little, but he would be able to tell if Seth was alive. Neil knew what the answer would be, but he knew Allison needed to hear it. 

Allison watched him warily but allowed him to approach and put a hand over the burn mark on Seth's chest. The hair on his arm stood as he did, reacting to being so close to Seth's body. He wondered if Allison had been shocked when she first grabbed him. He held still and concentrated, feeling for any motion in the water in Seth's body, in his blood. There was none. Slowly, he retracted his hand and shook his head. 

Allison's answering scream was soundless and painful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone is doing alright! Also rip Seth but yall know I had to


	3. Chapter 3

The Foxes returned to the forest slowly, and in waves after Seth's death. Andrew and his monsters returned right away with Wymack and Neil. Immediately upon getting back, Andrew moved which treehouse he slept in. He moved his entire group to a large tree that forked about a hundred feet off the ground, and split into two trunks. Each trunk had smaller rooms around it, and the two were connected by a rickety rope bridge instead of ziplines. Nicky and Aaron went into one room, Kevin and Andrew into the other. Neil found himself sleeping on the bed in between Kevin and Andrew's. 

Dan, Matt, and Abby came back a few days later. Neil tried to apologise for moving out of their room, but Matt just waved him off. There was something tense about it. That night, Matt went up to his treehouse, and Dan went up with him. 

It was nearly a week before Allison returned, and when she finally did, it was with Renee and someone Neil hadn't seen before. Renee was a semi-permanent figure in the camp for the next few weeks, going on trips for a couple of days before returning to hover around Allison and spar with Andrew. She wouldn't say a word about where she went on her outings, only giving sad smiles and a shake of her head when asked. The older woman who had come back with Allison was introduced to Neil as Betsy, a woman from Abby's waterbending tribe. She wasn't a healer, or a bender at all, but something about her put Neil on edge. She seemed to accept that and never pushed him, but it was obvious he was alone in his distrust of her. Even Andrew was shockingly fond of her. Both women took up a spot in the treehouse with Allison, claiming the space vacated by Dan. 

Neil slowly managed to carve out a spot for himself in the Fox's ranks, one that didn't feel too much like he was just replacing Seth. He taught Matt how to fish, and in return learned how to set snares when they went out hunting together. He showed Dan how to steer a boat, and she told him stories about the sand ships she had piloted growing up in the desert. He warmed up to Renee, and found himself beginning to enjoy her quiet sense of humour. Allison was distant, withdrawn, and Neil didn't make a particular effort to be left alone with her. 

When he wasn't hovering around Matt, Dan, Renee, and Allison, he was swinging between platforms on the ziplines. After a few days, he discovered a platform tucked high into the canopy, so far above the rest of the platforms that sunlight actually reached it, and he only had to climb a few branches to poke his head out of the top of the forest. It was an endless expanse of green in one direction, and an equally endless expanse of brown in another. It made Neil feel tiny and safe at the same time, like he could hide anywhere in the whole of the forest and his father would never find him. Andrew joined him up there sometimes, though he never climbed the last few branches. Instead, he just smoked something out of his pipe and watched Neil with bright, bored eyes. The heavy woodsy smell of his pipe was oddly pleasant, and it reminded Neil of his mother from their days in the Fire Nation. They never spoke to each other on that platform, though Andrew did talk to Neil more since his fight with Riko. 

In the evenings, he taught Kevin how to waterbend while Andrew looked on. Kevin already knew some parts of waterbending, thanks to Abby's skill at healing, but it became quickly apparent that there were massive holes in his knowledge. Abby was only able to teach him healing, which was useful in theory, but Kevin struggled to master even that. He could barely heal more than a scrape and, while Neil didn't know much healing himself, that seemed to bode ill. Andrew had theorised that since Kevin had been born a firebender, and water was the natural opposite of fire, it would be the hardest to learn. So far, that theory seemed correct. 

In hand-to-hand combat, Neil was easy prey for Kevin. Kevin had the advantage of reach and power, and every move he had was disciplined and calculated. Where Neil relied on his speed and instinct, practically dancing around on his toes, Kevin was a steady wall, solid and powerful. Their individual styles played into their bending, making Kevin very good at earthbending and firebending, but not quite as skilled at airbending and nearly hopeless with waterbending. 

"Kevin, you've got to stop blocking. The point of this exercise is to throw it back at me." Neil sighed as Kevin, once again, threw his palm up to scatter a jet of water that Neil had thrown at him. 

"Maybe I could catch it and throw it back if you had better aim. I can't do that if the jet is going straight for the middle of my chest every time. If your form wasn't so sloppy, maybe this exercise would go better." Kevin shot back. They were both sweaty and tired, knee-deep in the muddied river waters. 

“If you would just move your feet occasionally, it wouldn’t matter. There’s going to be indents in the sand from digging your heels in.” Neil glowered. How was he supposed to teach someone who wouldn’t listen?

Kevin threw up his hands, warm air gusting around with the motion, and turned to look at Andrew, as if to say,  _ deal with this idiot for me _ . Andrew was lying on his back on the riverbank, an arm slung over his eyes, and didn’t move. 

“I don’t know why you think he’s going to help you. He’s not your waterbending teacher.” Neil said, petulantly. 

Kevin turned back to look at Neil and glared. “No, because I’d actually be learning if he was. I’m never going to be in a fight with a firebender and ask them to play catch with me.” 

Neil inhaled sharply and looked towards the bank, contemplating the merits of simply telling Kevin to find another teacher. Of course, now Andrew had removed his arm from his eyes and was looking at them. Andrew raised an eyebrow at Neil, as if to remind him of the promise he’d made weeks ago. Neil released the breath he’d been holding and shook his head. 

“Ok, fine. We’ll do this your way.” Neil grinned, and it was an ice shard of an expression. “Plant your feet, use whatever kind of  _ waterbending _ you like. If you can land a single hit on me before I land, oh, twenty on you, we can move on to offensive moves. Otherwise, we go back to playing catch.”

Kevin gritted his teeth. “Sounds great.”

Before Kevin could make a move, Neil jumped. The moment his toes touched the river again, all of the water in a ten-foot radius around him froze solid, including the water around Kevin. Kevin started to protest, and Neil hit him square in the face with a ball of water. It wasn’t a hard shot, it was just to prove a point. 

“One.” Andrew called out. Sparing a glance away from the fight, Neil saw that Andrew had sat up and was watching them. He looked bored, but it was clear they had his attention. 

Kevin nearly snarled at Andrew’s involvement but, to his credit, didn’t try to melt the ice with firebending. Instead, he let himself remain stuck, since Neil hadn’t taught him how to manipulate ice yet. Kevin managed to force the river up over the ice sheet, and into a ball, which he then slung at Neil. 

Neil swayed and used his body to slingshot it back at Kevin, a perfect execution of the move he’d been trying to teach the Avatar. 

“Two.” 

“I thought you didn’t want to play catch?” Neil taunted. A tendril of water rose up behind Kevin and lightly whipped him in the back of the head. 

“Three.”

Neil started to circle Kevin slowly, his bare feet aching from the cold of the ice. Kevin tried to follow him, but with his own legs encased in the ice, there was nothing he could do. Once Neil moved around enough that Kevin could properly see him again, the Avatar launched a fast volley of water. Sphere after sphere came flying at Neil. It was impressive, to be honest, that Kevin could shape and control so much water after only a couple days of practise. Neil dodged every one, and sent them all flying back at Kevin at once. It completely soaked the other man. 

“...Twelve.”

It was also impressive that Andrew could keep track. 

Kevin wasn’t as impressed. He growled, and Neil used another water whip to hit Kevin in the side. 

“Thirteen.”

Neil watched as Kevin shakily pulled a tendril of water up from the river. With a few shaky hand motions, he tried to mimic what Neil had just done. While his effort was certainly a good one, Neil didn’t even bother to move. Just as he suspected, Kevin had the control, but not the flow of the water. He released the whip too soon and it splashed down against the ice behind him. 

“Figuring out when to release it means you have to feel the water, Kevin. You have to flow with it, feel where it’s going, before you know.” Neil said, and helpfully demonstrated the move for him again. 

“Fourteen.”

Kevin tried again, and failed. He snarled in frustration and this time threw an entire wave at Neil. It was sloppy, but effective, and Neil had to split the wave in half to avoid getting hit. The water gushed around him for a moment, and he barely had time to react to the ball of water Kevin launched at him when the wave passed. Neil paid him back in kind for both attempts. 

“Sixteen.”

Kevin tried to throw another ball of water, and Neil spun it around back at him, again. 

“Seventeen.”

“Do you at least see what I mean, now?” Neil tried. “I’m constantly moving, using the energy of every shot you throw at me. I’m not forcing my way through this.” 

Kevin must have understood something, because he was able to deflect the next shot Neil sent his way. It wasn’t perfect, he didn’t manage to get it all the way around to return to Neil, but he also couldn’t move his feet. It was better than he’d managed all day. However, the next shot he missed. 

“Eighteen.”

Kevin threw a ball and Neil quickly returned it to him. Kevin was able to direct it around his left side, but it went wide and completely missed Neil. Kevin tried to use the distraction of the ball to attempt the water whip again, which was an admirable tactic, but he still didn’t know where to release. This time, he held on too long and the water hit him in the face. 

“Nineteen?” 

Kevin started to turn to yell at Andrew, and Neil decided it was time to stop playing. He quickly hit Kevin twice more, not very hard, but harder than he had been doing during their little duel. 

“Nineteen, twenty.” 

Kevin made a strangled, angry noise that shifted to one of surprise when Neil turned the chunk of ice back into water. Kevin momentarily lost his footing, but Neil caught him. 

“Do you see what I mean about planting your feet now? It’s good for standing your ground, and you have a very strong stance for that, but it limits you when facing a faster opponent.” Neil said. He kept his voice quiet, not wanting to make it seem like he was shaming Kevin in front of Andrew. 

Kevin looked for a moment as though he was going to argue, but then he seemed to collect himself. “Yeah. I think I get it.” 

“Hey, fish! Time to come in now. We’re done for the day.” Andrew called from the shoreline. 

Kevin and Neil looked at each other for a moment longer, and Neil felt like they had finally made some meaningful progress for once. Together, they nodded and headed for Andrew. 

~*~

That night, around the bonfire, Renee returned. She’d been gone for a few days, as usual, but there was something about her at dinner that night. She seemed on edge and, as usual, it looked like Andrew also had picked up on it. Neil watched the two of them shoot glances back and forth at each other for nearly the entire meal. 

Towards the end, when Wymack had finally put down his plateful of picked-clean rabbit bones, Renee stood up. Everyone’s eyes shot to her immediately.

“I didn’t want to spoil dinner, but I’ve gotten some news from Ba Sing Se. A letter, sent through one of the back channels.” Renee locked eyes with Andrew, and then her gaze flickered over to Nicky. “I opened it when I received it, for security. It doesn’t look like a trap, but I don’t have a good feeling about it regardless.”

She looked down at the fire for a moment, then retrieved a scroll from inside her robes. She leaned over the fire to pass it to Nicky, sitting next to Andrew. Nicky’s face went pale. He read it over a few times, his head silently bobbing, before getting up and wordlessly passing it to Andrew. Without looking at a single person, Nicky left the circle and vaulted himself up into the trees. Andrew glanced over it, then tossed the letter straight into the fire. 

“Andrew!” Dan bolted to her feet and made as if to grab the letter, but Matt caught her arm. 

“What the fuck, man?” Matt glared at Andrew, then looked after Nicky. “What did it say, where’s he going?”

“It was a private letter, you don’t need to know what it said.” Andrew deadpanned. He stood up and brushed off his legs, aggressively casual. “The important information is that we will be leaving for Ba Sing Se tomorrow morning, Nicky, Kevin, Aaron, Neil, and I.”

“What?” Now Wymack stood up too. “If there’s someone that needs help, tell me about it. You can’t just up and go without a word, we have a schedule to keep.”

“Why am I going?” Kevin got to his feet, looking annoyed. “I can’t be spotted in the capital of the Earth Kingdom.”

“Nicky and I are going to retrieve his boyfriend, we’ll be using secret tunnels underneath the city to do so. Kevin and Aaron are coming with us so I can keep an eye on them. Neil is coming with us for the same reason, but also because I have a hunch that his waterbending will prove useful.” Andrew shot a sideways smirk at Neil that gave him a very, very bad feeling about what he meant. “Renee can’t carry all of us.”

There was a pause in the group as everyone assessed Andrew’s words and waited for Wymack’s verdict. 

“It’s something of a stealth mission, isn’t it.” Wymack finally said. 

Andrew nodded. 

“Alright, then. How long will you be gone, and will you need food?” Wymack’s voice was gruff, but Andrew had clearly won. 

Dan made a noise of protest at Wymack’s words. “What, that’s it? You’re just going to let him run off with no idea where he’s going or what his plan is? Breaking into Ba Sing Se is no small feat, he needs backup.”

Wymack sighed and shook his head. “He’s not breaking in, he’s sneaking in. The more people there are, the more likely they are to be caught. Sneaking in with five and sneaking out with six is already a lot of risk. From a tactical standpoint, the fewer people who know details, the better. Right?”

Andrew nodded. “Plan for us to be gone for no more than a week. We’ll bring about a day’s worth of food with us, but we’ll be able to get food along the way.”

“What should we do if you’re not back in a week?” Wymack asked. Andrew tilted his head to consider.

Neil realised that Andrew, despite having only read the letter a few minutes ago, already had come up with a fully worked plan. That was… honestly really impressive.

“If we’re not back, find Renee and have Allison make inquiries. Do not come after us without knowing anything.” 

Wymack gave him a long, searching look, and then nodded. “Alright. I’ll have food packed for you by tonight. I’ll leave it at the foot of your tree. May the spirits guide you.”

Andrew inclined his head, the closest Wymack was going to get to a thanks, and left the circle. Neil watched him vault himself up into the trees. No one else spoke after he left. 

~*~

The next morning, before the sun had even come up, Neil was woken up by someone kicking the foot of his bed. Specifically, Andrew. As soon as he noticed that Neil was awake, he moved on to kicking Kevin’s bed until the Avatar was awake. No one said a word as they all went through their various morning routines, and Andrew left to wake up Nicky and Aaron in the other treehouse. By the time the sun was rising, they were all piling onto Renee’s bison, tired but ready for their journey. No one spoke for a long while, not until the sun was fully risen. A short while after the forest passed completely out of sight, Kevin slid forward to talk to Renee. After a brief conversation, she smiled and handed Kevin her staff. He grinned, and then promptly fell off the side of the bison. Neil felt a bolt of panic and rushed to the side of the saddle, just in time to see Kevin swoop back up, glider extended behind his shoulders. Kevin flashed him another grin before looping over the bison and diving back down into the clouds. Neil sat back and caught a glimpse of Andrew smirking at him. 

“Airbending is the first one he had to learn, after firebending. Renee has been teaching him since before he even got to us.” Nicky moved a little closer to Neil. He’d barely said a word since he’d gotten the letter last night, which was unusual for the typically chatty earthbender. 

Neil nodded. “It shows.”

It really did. Kevin was nowhere near as good as Renee had been, he didn’t have the same effortless style or natural grace that she did, but he was almost technically perfect. His dives and turns seemed calculated, like he thought about them very carefully before initiating, and every one was pulled off flawlessly. Watching him, Neil started to realise where the misunderstanding in their training sessions was. 

Everything Kevin did, he thought about. Painstakingly. For firebending, maybe that worked. Maybe he needed to be careful and calculating and aware of every move he was going to make. Maybe that worked for earthbending, too, figuring out where the best place to apply force was, the best spot to bring down a wall or crumple a boulder. Clearly it worked for airbending. It wouldn’t work for water though, especially not in a fight against another waterbender. Water was the wrong combination of flexible and powerful for that approach. Unlike with airbending, water couldn’t be blocked directly, any shot had to be diverted around. But it was also unlike firebending in that, in order to win, you had to learn to work with the water. It couldn’t be aimed as easily as fire, it would divert too happily, change its course too easily. There wasn’t time to make those calculations with waterbending, it relied too much on instinct and gut feelings. 

With a new understanding of how Kevin thought, Neil watched him careen around the sky for several long moments. The first time he had been on a bison with the monsters, it had been tense and stressful. It wasn’t that this current mission, whatever plan Andrew had, wasn’t as important as their previous one, but Neil was less anxious about it. This time, he could appreciate the feeling of the wind in his hair, the sun on his face. It was… nice. He certainly wouldn’t want to go leaping off the saddle with only a stick in hand, but he could kind of understand the joy Kevin and Renee seemed to take in it. 

~*~

They finally came within sight of the walls a few hours after sundown. Andrew had stiffly instructed everyone but Renee to sleep, with varying degrees of success. Kevin, Nicky, and Aaron were all soundly asleep in the back of the saddle by the time they first spotted the walls. Neil and Andrew were leaning on opposite sides of the saddle, closer to Renee, alternately dozing. It seemed neither of them could fully relax. 

After another hour of fading in and out of sleep, Neil felt them begin to descend. The drop stirred Andrew as well, and he woke everyone else with a couple of kicks. In complete silence, Renee’s bison dropped down into a field just outside the walls of Ba Sing Se. One by one, they dropped down into the field. Renee looked to Andrew.

“I’ll be nearby for a week, watching this entrance. I’ll expect you tomorrow, though.” 

Andrew nodded, and Renee’s bison rose up into the air once more. They flew off, towards a small patch of trees, presumably to get some rest in the cover of them. 

“No one make a sound until we’re in the tunnels from here on out.” Andrew said, his voice nearly a whisper. He stared down every member of the group until he’d gotten a nod from them all before turning and walking towards the walls. 

Neil followed, behind Kevin but in front of Nicky and Aaron. He had never gotten this close to the capital of the Earth Kingdom, the only remaining major resistance against the Fire Nation’s purge of benders. Looking up at the massive walls, Neil could understand how. From so close to the base of them, the walls seemed to be holding up the very sky.

For that matter, Neil didn’t know how Andrew was planning to get past them. The only obvious path seemed to be going over them, but that didn’t seem like a good idea. Further along the wall, Neil could see faint torchlights from what must be guards keeping watch. Flying in at night was one thing, but trying to sneak past guards seemed a bit more difficult. Neil knew Andrew was an impressive earthbender, but he didn’t think trying to go straight through the walls was a good idea, either. 

When they reached the base of the wall, Andrew held up a hand for them all to stop. Neil nearly ran into Kevin when the Avatar stopped short to watch Andrew walk around, staring at the ground. After a few moments, he stopped circling the area and motioned for everyone to gather around him. He locked eyes with Nicky. Nicky nodded back at him, and they made a quick motion towards the ground in perfect unison. 

The grass underneath their feet dropped and Kevin grabbed Neil’s arm in a vice grip. Neil managed to keep quiet despite his alarm at suddenly being completely airborne and hurtling towards the bottom of some pit that Nicky and Andrew had just created. Despite the adrenaline racing through his body, Neil realised that they were falling towards some sort of water. Quickly, he brought the water up to catch them, slowing their fall and bringing them all down into a narrow tunnel. The natural water level in the tunnel was very low, only about knee height, so Neil was very glad he’d brought it up to catch them. There was a quiet noise overhead as Andrew and Nicky sealed the passage that they’d fallen down. 

“Were you going to give us any fucking warning?” Aaron spat out angrily, the moment the passage closed. 

Light bloomed in the tunnel as Kevin lit up a small flame over his palm. The light flickered across Andrew’s face, which was completely stoney. 

“I said everyone had to be quiet. That included me.” Andrew shrugged and stood up. The tunnel was higher than he was tall, but not by very much. Kevin would likely have to bend over slightly to stand.

“Where are we?” Neil asked, getting up. 

Nicky got to his feet and offered Aaron a hand up, which was promptly refused. Deciding to be nice, Neil offered Kevin a hand, which was accepted. 

“We’re in the sewers underneath Ba Sing Se.” Nicky said, smiling grimly. “They run all over the city, and they’re the easiest way in, if you’re an earthbender.”

“We’re in the sewers?” The disgust in Kevin’s voice was audible. Neil couldn’t blame him, but he’d been in more disgusting situations when he was on the run with his mom. 

Andrew grinned. “Don’t let the water touch you… oh wait. Whoops.”

Kevin turned to glare at Neil. “Did you have to completely soak us all in sewer water?”

“Would you rather I had let you fall?” Neil answered. Kevin didn’t have anything to say to that. 

“Are we all done crying about getting dirty?” Andrew asked. “If so, let’s go. Otherwise you can stay here all night, but I’m going to Erik’s house and I’m pretty sure the rest of you don’t know the way.”

Andrew turned and began wading through the water, following it upstream. The tunnels were too narrow to pass each other in, so Neil gave Kevin a light shove in Andrew’s direction until the Avatar gave up his glaring and followed the earthbender. 

Kevin did have to bend over slightly to follow, but that problem abruptly ended after about an hour. The tunnels opened up suddenly after they passed a specific point, which Neil assumed meant they were underneath the inner part of the city, where the nobles lived. They emerged from the smaller tunnel into another one that was roughly three times the height and width of the one they’d been in, plenty large enough for Kevin to stand up, and Neil to walk next to him. The middle of the tunnel was a much deeper channel of sewage, but there were paths cut alongside so they no longer had to walk in the smelly water. Neil used the opportunity to bend the water out of his clothes, then do the same for Aaron and Kevin when they glared. 

“Oh, could you also do that for me?” Nicky asked. 

“Sure. Andrew, would you like me to dry you off too?” Neil got the water off Nicky and raised an eyebrow at Andrew. 

Andrew raised a mocking eyebrow back at him, but nodded. 

When they were all dry, they didn’t smell any better, but Neil at least was more comfortable. Hopefully, Erik would have a bath at his house. 

After several turns down side tunnels that seemed utterly random, Andrew finally stopped them at a metal ladder that was sunk into the stone walls. 

“I’m going up first. When we’re up there, don’t make a fucking sound. It should still be dark, but there will likely be guards out. We don’t want to attract any attention to us. Follow me to Erik’s house and do everything I say.” 

Aaron looked like he was going to complain, maybe bitch about the hole into the sewers again, but Andrew’s look stopped him cold. Neil nodded when he made eye contact with Andrew, and then watched as Andrew scurried up the ladder. Kevin let his flame go out as Andrew opened the hatch and lamplight streamed into the sewers. Andrew looked around, then climbed out and motioned for everyone else to come up. 

Neil was close on Kevin’s heels, and Nicky right on his own. When he made it up to the street, he found that they were tucked behind a dumpster in a surprisingly clean alley. The main street, just feet away, was brightly illuminated by regular and well-kept streetlamps. When everyone was out, Andrew shut the cover to the sewers soundlessly. He looked Kevin and Nicky in the eyes and motioned towards the roof. Neil automatically braced himself for something to happen. Andrew made a pushing motion, and a jut of rock erupted from underneath him, bringing him up to level with the rooftop. He stepped off the pillar of stone to the roof, as quiet as a mouse, and the rock sank back into the ground. 

Neil watched Nicky step closer to Aaron, and then felt an arm go around his waist. Kevin pulled him in close and Neil felt the ground shift. The few feet they rose was somehow more disorienting than the fall into the sewers. It was still startling, though, and Kevin had to nearly pull him off the pillar and onto the roof. 

Once they were all on the roof, Andrew and Nicky took the lead. They moved quickly across the sloped tiles, not quite running. Neil kept his footfalls silent, like he’d learnt to do with his mother. They had to pause a couple of times, switch sides of the roof, in order to evade wandering packs of city guards, but it was mostly a quiet trip. A little too quiet, if Neil was being honest. Though, he reasoned, they were inside the inner ring of the city. It made sense that they’d keep aggressive policing in the outer ring. 

Finally, they dropped down into another alley between two houses. Nicky tapped softly on the window of one of them, in a quick rhythm. A light inside flickered on, and the window opened. 

A young man with light blonde hair and grey eyes opened the window, sleepiness evident on his face. The sleepiness vanished the moment he saw Nicky. His eyes went wide and he quickly stepped back. The glass over the window opened, and he motioned for them to come in. Nicky scrambled in and almost fell on the man. Andrew herded everyone else through the window before climbing in himself and latched it. 

As soon as the window was shut, the man started to laugh. 

“Nicky! Andrew! Aaron!” The man, presumably Erik, wrapped his arms around Nicky, then leaned back with a strange look on his face. “Not to sound unhappy, but why do you smell?”

“Came in through the sewers.” Andrew said, sounding and looking utterly bored. “This is Kevin and Neil, two of our other Foxes.”

The man nodded. “Nice to meet you. I am Erik, Nicky’s fiance. Um, would you like showers? There is a bathhouse out in the shared garden, and I can wash your clothes.”

Kevin and Aaron shared looks. “Yes, we really would.”

Erik still looked a little confused. “Alright, follow me. Keep the noise down, since it’s early, but no one will report you. The garden is private.”

They followed Erik out to a low building inside a walled garden. The other houses nearby also let out into the garden, but it was totally enclosed beyond that. The garden itself was lovely and perfectly manicured. Neil entered the bathhouse behind Andrew, relieved to find that there were private stalls. He ducked into one to get undressed, passing his clothes over the top of a curtain to Erik. 

“There are robes out here when you’re done. I’ll be in the house when you’re done.” The door to the bathhouse closed, and Neil turned the shower in his stall on. The water was warm and came out fast. The money that was poured into the inner circle of Ba Sing Se wasn’t totally wasted, apparently. The soap that was provided was thick and sweet-smelling. Neil couldn’t honestly remember the last time he’d had such a nice shower. 

Once he was done with the shower, though, Neil abruptly remembered that he was in the bathhouse with four other people. He kept the water running, and resolved to simply sit and wait. After a few moments, he heard one shower shut off. 

“I’m going back to the house.” Aaron called. A few moments later, two more showers shut off. Neither announced themselves, so Neil didn’t know who he was left in the bathhouse with. 

After a few more minutes, the final shower shut off. Neil listened to the footsteps of the other person as they walked to get a robe, and put one on. He didn’t hear the door move, though. What were they doing?

“C’mon, rabbit. I know it doesn’t take that long for you to shower.” Andrew’s voice called. 

Neil started a little, but shut the water off. “Just head back to the house. I’ll be right behind you.”

He heard a rustle of cloth. “Nah, I’ll wait for you. We can walk back together,  _ Neil _ . Unless something is wrong?” His tone was mocking.

Neil gritted his teeth. “Fine, if you’re so insistent, then pass me a robe over the curtain.”

Andrew hummed. “Nicky said you wouldn’t let him in when you were showering after your test. Got something against letting the scary gay men see you naked?”

Neil crossed his arms, even though Andrew couldn’t see it. “What? No, I don’t care about that. I don’t shower with anyone.”

“And why’s that?” Something about Andrew’s tone just then told Neil that he didn’t want to lie. 

“I’ve got a lot of scars.” Neil forced through his teeth. 

Andrew made a noise of interest. “Do you, now? Can I see?”

Strangely, Neil got the feeling that this question was, in a manner, optional. Neil could tell him no and that would be the end of it. He wanted to. But a small part of him also wanted to show Andrew. Give the earthbender concrete evidence of the kind of men he’d sworn to protect Neil from, the kind of things they were willing to do. Just to see if Andrew would back down. 

“Fine.” Before he could change his mind, Neil opened the curtain. His eyes found Andrew’s face quickly and he stared the other man down, watching his face closely as Andrew processed the events. 

Aside from the initial surprise when Neil opened the curtain, Andrew didn’t react. His eyes slid down Neil’s body, assessing, but he didn’t show a single emotion. Neil knew what Andrew must be seeing. He knew what he looked like. His body was a mess of slash marks from Lola’s knives, deep purple cuts from his father that were permanently bruised from bloodbending, burn marks from an iron his father had hit him with once, even a starburst of a mark where a stray crossbow bolt had caught him in the shoulder while he was on the run. 

When Andrew’s eyes returned to his, Neil walked past him and grabbed a robe. He slipped it on and tied it firmly closed. 

“My, my, rabbit. Some of those marks didn’t look like they came from a life on the run.” Andrew’s tone wasn’t pitying, or disgusted. It was that same mocking, amused tone from before. He’d looked at all of Neil’s scars and it hadn’t affected him in the least. 

“Some of them aren’t.” Unsure how to feel, Neil left the bathhouse. 

Andrew was right behind him when he walked back into Erik’s house. Aaron and Kevin were sitting on cushions around a low table, holding mugs of steaming tea. There were two other cups on the table, Neil noticed, and he gratefully took one of them. It had been such a long time since he’d had tea, and the Earth Kingdom was well known for producing some of the finest. Before doing anything else, he took a sip and closed his eyes to savour it. 

Beside him, he heard Andrew huff a laugh. 

Neil opened his eyes, glared at the earthbender, and sat down next to Kevin. “Where are Erik and Nicky?”

“Erik is washing our clothes and Nicky is  _ helping _ him.” Kevin said, glancing at Aaron with a resigned look. 

“They’re fucking. Just drink your tea, you have at least thirty minutes.” Aaron looked mildly disgusted. 

There was no way to react to that, so Neil shut up and drank his tea. 

~*~

As Aaron had predicted, Erik and Nicky returned about half an hour later, visibly mussed, but carrying clothes. Neil, Kevin, Andrew, and Aaron took turns changing back into their clothes in Erik’s bathroom. Despite the fact that Erik and Nicky had obviously been distracted, Neil’s clothes were dry and smelled nice, so Neil was counting it as a win. However, through the bathroom window, Neil could see that the sun was beginning to rise. 

When Neil got back to the sitting room, he sat down next to Andrew on the cushions. Everyone was back, and there was a loaded pause while they all looked at each other. 

“Alright, I hate to be negative, but I have to ask. What the hell are you doing here?” Erik broke the silence. 

Nicky frowned. “Babe, what do you mean? We’re here because you sent the letter? Y’know, about the increased guards in the city, rumours of the war actually making it to the inner circle? You said you were afraid they might arrest you for knowing things about the war?”

“Letter?” Erik grew unsettlingly pale. “Nicky, that’s all true, but I did not write a letter.”

“You didn’t write a letter?” Andrew leaned forward, frowning. 

Erik shook his head. “Another thing, it makes more sense now. Nicky, your parents have been coming to my house every morning, asking if you are here. I’ve been telling them no, of course, but they still ask.”

“How long have they been coming to visit?” Andrew asked. 

“Just for the past three or four days.” Erik looked very nervous. “Is it…”

Andrew nodded. “Yes. We’ve been set up. It’s got to be Riko. The delay must be because Renee took extra time to open the letter and make sure it was secure. I don’t know how, but we’ve got a mole in our network, somehow. We need to leave.”

Just then, a knock came at the door. Erik looked at it, clearly unsure. 

“It’s got to be them. Your parents, Nicky.” 

Nicky looked absolutely devastated. “Maybe it’s not a set up. Maybe they just actually missed me?”

“And they managed to break into our network of merchants to pass a message to you, pretending to be Erik? I don’t think so.” Andrew growled. 

Another knock at the door. 

“Don’t.” 

Nicky looked like he was going to cry. “I’m sorry.” 

He got up and bolted for the door. Andrew tried to stop him, but Nicky deftly evaded every rock Andrew set to trip him. 

Almost in slow motion, Neil watched as Nicky opened the door to greet his parents. 

“Hi mom, dad.” Neil could see the couple outside around Nicky’s shoulders. The man was tall and pale, and Neil could see echoes of the twins in him. His shoulders were broad, hair and eyes pale, expression cold. The woman, well, she actually looked like she could have been from one of the Water Tribes. She was much darker than he was, with soft black hair, but brown eyes. Clearly, Nicky took after her in appearance. 

Slowly, the couple stepped inside. Nicky’s father kept his hand on the small of his wife’s back, herding her around. The front door closed, and Nicky’s father looked at everyone else in the room. “Nicky, Andrew, Aaron. How nice to see you again.”

“Luther. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same.” Andrew bit out. Aaron looked torn. 

Andrew stood up and looked at Erik. “Get up, and go pack anything you need. We’re leaving.”

Erik didn’t even try to argue, just left the room. Neil and Kevin stood up, followed by Aaron. 

“Leaving? But we just got here. We wanted to see our son.” Nicky’s mother finally spoke, and she seemed oddly confused when she did. Neil noticed that her eyes were unfocused, like she’d just woken up from a deep sleep. 

Nicky didn’t seem to notice anything was wrong with her. “Did you want to tell me anything, mom? Does this mean you’re ok with Erik and I?”

Luther turned a hard look on Nicky, cutting his wife off before she even had a chance to reply. “You know Maria and I cannot condone any of your behaviour. Leave all of this foolishness behind and come home with us. I’m sure we can still work out an arrangement with your fiancee.”

“Then what did you come here for?” Nicky said, his voice full of tears. 

“To stall us.” Andrew spat. “And it’s working, isn’t it? The guards are on their way here now, aren’t they?” 

Erik appeared from his doorway. “I’m ready, let’s go.”

Luther smiled, and it was an empty mockery of Andrew’s most dangerous smile. Just as cruel, but without any actual ability to back it up. “It’s too late. The guards will do their job to catch the intruders and those spreading dangerous lies about a war. Right, Maria?”

“Yes, of course. Everyone knows there is no war in Ba Sing Se.” Maria parroted the line blankly. It was deeply uncomfortable. 

Andrew nodded. “Alright, great. Get the fuck out of our way.” 

Andrew moved towards the door. Luther stepped forwards, as if to block him, and Andrew shoved his uncle back into the wall so hard that it cracked. Together, they raced out into the street while Maria tried to help her husband. Andrew paused, and Erik took over. 

“Follow me.” Erik took off down the street, Andrew and Aaron struggling to keep up with the taller man. Neil had no trouble following him around several corners, towards some destination. 

“Hey! You! They’re here!” They turned one corner and came face to face with a pair of city guards, who immediately seemed to recognise them. Andrew quickly knocked over a barrel of water that was in an alleyway, shooting a look at Neil. The water froze around the guard’s feet and Erik took off in a different direction. 

They turned more corners, cut through more alleys, before Erik finally stopped and threw himself to the ground, opening a sewer cover. 

Nicky jumped in without hesitation, and everyone was quick to follow. Once inside, Kevin lit a flame over his hand. 

"We don't have much time before they realize where we are. Follow the water downstream." Andrew said, quickly taking back the lead. 

It was almost like being on the run with his mother again, Neil thought, except he wasn't alone. They ran and ran, until Neil could hear everyone else panting and struggling to keep going. After a little while, Andrew called for them to slow down.

"We'll walk for a little. It does us no good if we're too exhausted to run when they catch up."

They slowed their pace, but it didn't slow Neil's heart. Every silence in between footsteps had his ears straining for something.

Just as they reached the limit of the inner city, where the tunnels shrank again, a monolith sprang up in front of them. 

"Oh, AJ. They told me you'd be here. Surely you're not trying to run away from me again?" A voice called. Neil didn't miss the way Andrew tensed. 

The wall behind them split violently, revealing a hole just big enough to climb through. Behind them, a large earthbender sauntered in. Two dozen earthbenders came in behind him. It was clear from their movements and uniforms, these earthbenders were not the average city guard. 

"Everyone, get into the tunnel. Get outside of the city, find Renee. I'll hold them off." Andrew snarled. 

"Andrew, you can't! They're the Dai Lee. You can't hold them off alone." Erik said, even as he helped Aaron and Nicky climb into the tunnel. 

"I'll help him then. Get Kevin out of here." Neil spoke before he'd even thought about it. "Two master benders should buy you enough time. Seal the tunnel behind you." 

Andrew shot Neil a look out of the corner of his eye, but didn't say anything. Kevin went to protest, but Erik cut him off by grabbing his arm and nearly dragging him into the tunnel. The entrance to it slid shut as soon as Kevin vanished inside.

"Ready to stop running?" Andrew asked, his voice quiet as they turned to face their opponents. 

"Kevin's the Avatar, he's got to make it out. No one else would be able to help you enough." Neil replied, just as quietly. 

"Hmm. Maybe you're not a rabbit, after all."

The Dai Lee agents advanced, and Neil watched the man in front, the one who'd initially called out to them. 

"Subdue these two, then go after the others. Try not to kill the blonde one, but do whatever you want to the other." The man called out to the agents. "AJ, it's so good to see my favourite brother again." 

Andrew gritted his teeth, but there was something strange about the motion. Two agents moved in, and then Neil didn't have time to think about Andrew anymore. 

A wall of Earth came flying at him, and Neil spun to avoid it. Gritting his teeth, he jumped directly into the sewage. The water came up to his chest, and was disgusting, but it was necessary. He flung a whip at the agent who had attacked him, catching the man in the chest and flinging him back into the darkness of the tunnels. In the corner of his eye, he saw Andrew crush the other agent who had moved into the ceiling with a pillar of rock. The agent crumpled to the ground and didn't get up. In a way, that was a relief to Neil. He didn't have to worry about keeping them alive. Agent after agent came at him, and Neil struggled not to loose himself to bloodlust.

The sewage surged up and yanked two other agents into the water. Rock closed around Neil and he quickly froze the water at his waist, expanding and shattering the stone. The agents underwater struggled, but it was easy enough for Neil to snap their necks. He wasn't watching what Andrew did, he didn't have time to in between the rocks flying at him from the Dai Lee. However, that didn't mean he couldn't hear.

"It's been so long since we were last together. I've missed you. Can't believe you deserted the army like that, right before my big promotion. It was a big disappointment, not getting to break in my new quarters with you. Don't worry, though, we'll have plenty of time together after I've caught the Avatar. You and me, we can take a nice vacation to Lake Laogai. Unfortunately, we can't bring your new playtoy with us. I'll make sure you're kept too busy to miss him." The man called. 

Neil couldn't help but think he knew exactly what the man was talking about, and it made him sick to his stomach. Neil, without even turning to look, threw a splash of water towards the sound of the man's voice, turning it to razor fine shards of ice as his fingers left the water. He did the same to another agent, then turned in time to see the man collapse to his feet as his ice sharps pierced his body. Clearly, the man had been too focused on Andrew. For a split second, Neil met Andrew's eyes and saw something ease. 

Then, Andrew brought a slab of rock down on the fallen man, killing him. 

Even with their commander dead, the Dai Lee agents didn't relent. If anything, they only fought harder. The remaining dozen or so stopped trying to attack separately, and instead rushed at then en masse. 

Realizing he couldn't take so many at once, Neil jumped out of the river, landing and Andrew's side. By wordless communication, they turned slightly, so their backs were angled together in a better defensive position. They'd bought Kevin a lot of time already, but Neil knew they needed to buy him more. 

"'Drew, I need a few seconds, gonna freeze the water." Neil panted, exhaustion slurring his words. Andrew's only response was a grunt, which Neil had to take as an affirmative. 

Planting his feet, Neil summoned all his remaining strength. He pulled the sewage up towards the opening Kevin had vanished through. With a massive crack, ice raced along the sewage channel, the expanded ice sending cracks up the sides of the tunnel. The ice reached past the Dai Lee, and the agents paused in their attack when one of the cracks opened in front of the closest ones. As soon as Neil released his hold on the ice, he knew he'd reached his limit. His vision swam and he felt himself begin to sway. 

Strong arms- Andrew's- caught him. Andrew muttered something to him but Neil couldn't hear it over the rushing in his ears. Beyond that rushing, Neil heard more cracks and he dimly registered that the tunnel was collapsing. From what he'd done? No, Neil realised. From Andrew. In addition to his ice blockage, Andrew was collapsing the tunnel around them. Neil felt Andrew sink to his knees, bringing Neil to the ground as he did. The last thing he saw was Andrew curling over him as the ceiling collapsed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all know that initially this was supposed to be a one-shot fic, with maybe 5k words max, and look where we're at now


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been a hot second since I last posted anything for this, huh? Normally I'd make excuses, but I feel like everyone can probably guess what the delay was. 2020 was a hell of a year, here's to (a hopefully better) 2021

When Neil woke up, everything hurt. That was beginning to get irritatingly familiar. He took a moment to run a mental check of his body before opening his eyes, just in case he was being observed.

Wherever he was, it was deathly hot. It felt like he was still wearing the same clothes that he had been when he’d gone into Ba Sing Se. However, they were totally dry. He could tell he wasn’t sweating. That, coupled with the pounding in his head and the shredding pain in his throat every time he breathed meant he was completely dehydrated, again. It must have been a couple of days since he and Andrew had collapsed the tunnel, so he’d definitely been captured and transported, likely to a prison. Maybe the

heat was an intentional method by whichever Earth Kingdom jail he was in to sweat him out. He couldn’t feel Andrew anywhere near him, but he was probably too weak to sense anyone regardless. Or they just had insanely thick walls in Earth Kingdom prisons.

Neil finally decided to crack his eyes open and actually take a look at where he was. His eyes felt gummy and difficult to get open, and his vision was blurry at first, but it cleared after several moments of blinking. When he finally managed to look around, his stomach instantly sank. He hadn’t seen rock like this, pitted, sharp, and porous in many years, but he could hardly forget it. Volcanic rock.

Wherever he was, it was in the Fire Nation.

He sat up, and had to wait a moment to let his head finish spinning before he could look around. The room was small, just a little pocket in the rock that had been shut off with a heavy metal door. He’d been lying on a small outcropping just wide enough for his body, which took up half of the room. The ceiling was also low, Neil guessed that he’d have just barely enough room if he stood up. By the bottom of the door, there was a small package. Neil gingerly reached for it and picked it up.

It turned out to be a waterskin with a note pinned to it. Neil ignored the note and sipped carefully at the water, fighting every urge to try to chug it. There wasn’t much water in it, but it was enough to help. When he’d finished the water, he looked at the note. It was just a scrap of paper, with only a few words in spiky handwriting.

_Welcome home, Nathaniel._

Neil felt like he might throw the water back up for a moment. This was to be expected, though. He’d been captured by the Earth Kingdom, because of a set-up that Riko must have organised. If Riko was half as dangerous as Neil thought he was, it wouldn’t have taken him much time at all after their first encounter near the Western Air Temple to figure out who he was. There really weren’t that many waterbenders with offensive training, and even fewer who looked as distinctive as he did. Only two, in fact.

There was a sharp rap on the door and it swung open suddenly, startling Neil. He jumped back on instinct, but only succeeded in banging his head on the low ceiling. On the other side of the door, Riko stood there, leering at him. The airbender boy that Neil had fought last time was with him, and he actually stepped into the room with Neil. Neil edged as far away from them both as he could, which wasn’t very far.

“Well, well, Nathaniel. I’d hoped you’d be awake by now. You and Kevin’s pet earthbender certainly put on a good show back in Ba Sing Se. I was almost very upset that Kevin himself got away, before I realised that I’d gotten you instead. Not an ideal trade, you understand, but decent. I imagine that Kevin will be easier to find without his little guard dog, anyway.” Riko sighed dramatically. “It’s a good thing you’re back where you should have been this whole time, no thanks to your whore of a mother.”

Neil couldn’t help himself, he let out a sound akin to a snarl at that. Riko only laughed.

“That’s fine, I don’t care if you like being here or not. You’re going to listen to me, though, and train with us like you were supposed to. This is an old volcano, so there’s no water here. You’d better get ready to show me that fun little trick that your daddy taught you.” Riko looked Neil over and his face twisted into something ugly. “You’re never going to use it on me, though. Got that? If you do, or if you take one tiny step out of line, maybe I’ll give your dad a call, hmm? Let him come visit you?”

Neil fought very hard to not let his expression change at all. Apparently, it worked, because Riko got visibly more angry.

“Or, maybe I could send someone to visit your earthbender friend? I don’t have him here, the agreement was that he’d go back to the hands of the Earth King’s army, so I imagine he’s probably in Lake Laogai for reconditioning. Apparently you killed his old foster brother and commanding officer, who was the one that I made the deal with, but I’m very sure there are others who’d like a turn with him. I’ve got people inside Lake Laogai.” Riko turned his head mockingly to look at the airbender in Neil’s room. “Proust, for one? Anyway, Jean, get him ready for practise. I want to see you both in the training area as soon as he’s done.”

The airbender- Jean- flinched when Riko slammed the door behind him. Now stuck in the tiny room with this other bender, Neil became distinctly aware of how little space there was between them.

“Get the fuck away from me.” He growled.

Jean sighed. “I can’t leave this room until you’re ready. Here.”

Jean held out the bundle that he’d been holding the whole time. When Neil didn’t take it, he sighed again and dropped it on the  stone bed that Neil had woken up on. 

“Riko is counting on me to prepare you for training. If you’re not ready, we will both be punished. I’ll answer whatever questions you want, but please cooperate.”

The airbender looked weary. Actually, when Neil really started to study him, he looked exceptionally bad. His skin seemed sallow and loose, he had dark bags under his eyes, and old bruises were scattered all over his face. He had a couple of small burn scars scattered across his left cheek and temple.  He looked like he might be just as much of a prisoner as Neil was.  Even more interestingly, he had a matching  brand to Riko and Kevin on his own cheekbone, only this one was a number three. 

“What is this place?” Neil asked tersely, beginning to examine the bundle that had been thrown towards him. It seemed to be some fire nation garb, wrapped around another, larger waterskin. Ignoring the clothes, Neil opened the water immediately and began to drink while Jean talked.

“This is the Nest, it’s where the Ravens live when they’re not responding to whatever situation the Firelord sends us out to deal with. It’s an old island formed by a volcano. The volcano itself erupted a few hundred years ago, destroying the village that used to be here and blowing out one side of the volcano. Because the side blew out, the volcano can’t build up enough to erupt anymore, so lava constantly flows out of the lower tunnels and empties all over the island into the sea. This shell is the only habitable part of the island, and it’s almost impossible to access it by sea because the lava flows into the sea and creates toxic gasses. Your friends aren’t going to be coming to get you.” Jean watched Neil drink, clearly getting impatient. “While we’re here, we train almost constantly. You’re one of us now, so that includes you. Please put on the clothing that I’ve brought you so we can go to training.”

“What if I don’t?” Neil finished the water and tossed it down next to the bundle of clothes.

Jean looked increasingly stressed. “The Ravens work on a pair system. From now until one of us leaves the Ravens, likely by dying, our actions are counted as one. If you refuse to put on the clothes, we will both be punished for it. Don’t make this bad for me.”

“Punished how?”

Jean bared his teeth and picked up the clothes, shoving them into Neil’s chest. “Everyone here but us is a firebender. How the fuck do you think?”

Neil looked down at the clothes that Jean was holding against him and noticed, for the first time, what Jean’s forearm looked like.

It was a sort of mottled patchwork of scarred skin, some pale, some pink, and a few patches of angry red. Some of the larger pink patches near his elbow had the tell-tale smeared look of badly burned skin. Neil met Jean’s eyes.

“Fine. Turn around.” Neil took the clothes and Jean, thankfully, turned to face the wall. Neil quickly undressed, slipping each new item of clothing on almost immediately after taking his own off. The Fire Nation trousers, tunic, and shoes were uncomfortably familiar to him. He’d gotten used to the sturdiness of Earth Kingdom clothing, and this Fire Nation stuff was so thin that it felt flimsy by comparison. The red and black tunic would certainly help him blend in more to the volcanic rock, and would help prevent him from becoming overheated, but Neil still hated the look of it.

“I’m done.” He said curtly. Jean turned around and gave him a quick look over before nodding.

“We need to get to the training ring now. It’s a long walk.” Jean held his hand up to the metal door and Neil felt a small rush of air as he used his bending to shove it open. He glanced at Neil. “Don’t let it touch you. It’s hot.”

Neil nodded and followed Jean out of his little prison cell into a low hallway. It was made of the same pitted rock as his room, but a bit smoother. Metal sconces jammed into the sides of the rock held torches that put dancing shadows in every crevice, turning every surface into the flesh of some living, breathing monster. The tunnel gradually sloped upwards and to the left, and Neil realised they were in an old lava tunnel.

“What did Riko mean when he said I was _supposed_ to be training here?” Neil said after a few steps.

“You were supposed to come here if your father’s experiment worked and you were able to bend like he wanted. Otherwise, you were to be killed.” Jean said without turning around. “Obviously, he succeeded, but your mother didn’t want to take any chances, so she took you and ran.”

“I was being sold to- what?” Neil was completely confused.

Jean turned his head at that and glanced at Neil. He frowned. “Do you genuinely not know any of this? Do you even know why your mother married your father?”

“It was an arranged marriage, for political reasons.” Neil answered robotically. He’d asked his mother the same question plenty of times while they were on the run.

“She really told you nothing.” Jean looked amazed and disgusted. “Your father wasn’t part of any royal or even noble family in the Northern Water Tribe. He won his place by being ruthless, uncommonly powerful, and willing to let unfortunate _accidents_ take care of his rivals. He slaughtered his way to becoming chieftain. Once he had power, he started looking for a way to secure it and pass it on. He tried to teach his way of bending to the followers he’d accumulated, but he had little success. No one in the Northern Tribe was good enough, so he went to the Southern Tribe. Mary was their strongest bender, and she was nearly as strong as he was, but she refused to learn bloodbending. At that point, Kengo became Firelord, and began to openly campaign against other types of bending. Your father went to Kengo and made him a deal. He could keep the waterbenders that were loyal to him, in return for surrendering all the other waterbenders and swearing fealty to Kengo. Your father used that deal to force your mother to either marry him, or be executed by the Fire Nation. Kengo made your father his personal executioner, anyway.”

“Why would he force her to marry him if she wouldn’t do what he wanted?” Neil asked.

Jean looked annoyed. “You’re really thick, aren’t you? They were the two most powerful waterbenders at the time. He married her so that she’d produce you, hoping that your bending ability would be greater than both of them. He wanted an heir, he wanted someone who could easily bloodbend without needing the full moon. You weren’t part of his original deal with Kengo, though. When you were born, Nathan had to make a new offer to Kengo. He got time to let you grow up, and to teach you, but when you were ten he was supposed to bring you before Kengo have have you demonstrate your abilities. If you could, like he’d promised, bloodbend without the full moon, then you would join General Tetsuji’s elite fighting unit, the Ravens. Otherwise, you were to be killed.”

Neil wanted to protest, to say that his mother would have never agreed to that, but the words died on his tongue. She’d never agreed to any of it, apparently. She’d been forced, under threat of death, to even have Nathaniel at all. Neil knew that she’d loved him, in her own way, but she hadn’t chosen to have him. He suddenly understood the enormity of his mother’s actions in choosing to run away with him that day. She hadn’t chosen to marry Nathan, probably hadn’t chosen to give birth to Nathaniel. She had, however, chosen to take Nathaniel and run away, in order to spare Nathaniel’s life. Even though it put her own life at risk. Even though she would have been perfectly safe herself if she’d let him be taken by the Ravens.

As Neil was struggling to wrap his mind around this, the tunnel ahead of them suddenly opened up. It was an exit, Neil realised, a collapse in the tunnel wall on one side. As they got closer to it, Neil tried to get a glimpse of the island. He couldn’t see even a hint of blue sky, though. Outside of the tunnel, there was only another wall of volcanic rock, and a vast pit of lava below them. He couldn’t see a hint of sky and he didn’t dare get close enough to the edge of the tunnel to get a better angle. Jean noticed him looking and scoffed.

“We’re far away from any clouds or ocean as we could be. Riko wants to make sure you know that he controls all of the water you will see.”

Neil tilted his head. “And we’re just as far away from any wind or open sky. He’s clipped your wings, too.”

The look Jean gave him was nothing short of a glare. “Neither of us ever had wings, Nathaniel. You were just allowed to believe that you did.”

They walked in silence for the next few minutes, until they approached a wider opening in the side of the volcano. This one was a hole in the outer wall, though, so Neil could actually see through it to the sky.  As it turned out, that was also their stop. 

Jean lead him out through that hole, and Neil finally got the look at the sky that he’d wanted. It was blue and lovely, melding seamlessly into the blue of the sea out at the horizon. The sea, all that water, completely surrounding them. Neil could see it, from high up on the slope of the volcano, but it was far, far away. He couldn’t feel it at all. He could also see the lower tunnels where lava flowed sluggishly into the sea all around them, creating a hazy white border at the shores. Even if he managed to slip his jesses, get away from Riko, he’d never be able to get close enough to the water to have a fighting chance.

This was a perfect hell for waterbenders.

The area on the side of the volcano on the ground was what he should have focused on first, though. Whatever had blown that hole in the side of the tunnel had left a relatively flat shelf that had clearly been turned into a training ring. The stone on the side of the volcano was already scorched black naturally, but there were smooth patches all the way around, tell-tale signs of intense firebending.

Riko was already standing there, waiting for them.  Around him, as though they’d practised it before, the other Ravens stood in a perfect semi-circle, flanking Riko. When he saw that he had Neil’s attention, Riko grinned and uncrossed his arms. 

“Ready to be back where you belong, Nathaniel?” His tone was just short of a triumphant sneer. 

Neil couldn’t help himself, he glanced around and pretended to be confused. “This doesn’t look much like the South Pole. Unless you guys are actually the Penguins?”

He saw several of the Ravens at Riko’s back stiffen, though he couldn’t tell if it was from the insult to them or the defiance of Riko.

The smile slid off Riko’s face. “We’ll help teach you to still that sharp tongue of yours. I’ll even assist myself, if it comes to that. For now, why don’t  you show us what you can do.” 

Riko stepped back, to the edge of the training ring, and most of the Ravens went with him. Two of them stepped forwards instead, towards Neil. And Jean. The airbender stood at his side, looking stoically but wearily at their opponents. The Raven on the left, a woman, eyed Jean with almost as much undisguised glee as her partner was eyeing Neil with. Riko watched all of them closely, and Neil had a couple of realisations.

Firstly, these Ravens hated Jean. Before Neil had come, Jean had been the lowest in their pecking order, at least socially. It hadn’t been an accident, pairing the two non-firebenders, the two most hated of the Ravens, together.

Secondly, and more importantly, both Jean and Neil were important to Riko in some way.  Jean had that  brand on his face, marking him as part of some set Riko was trying to build, and Neil was paired with him. That meant that Neil was likely also supposed to  be part of this set, and Neil knew from Riko’s own words  that Riko placed some value in Neil’s ability to bloodbend. 

The Raven pair stepped forward and Neil made a very stupid decision. Riko wanted him to bloodbend? He wasn’t going to do it. Oh, he’d play along with Riko’s training games, he’d spar and fight with them. But he wouldn’t give Riko the one thing he wanted, bloodbending.

Riko clicked his tongue, clearly getting impatient, and the Raven pair slid into crouches. Next to him, Jean mirrored their movement. Neil barely had a moment to ready himself before the Raven pair launched at them and the fight began.

It was n’t a fair fight. The Ravens worked together seamlessly, years of being paired together making their movements perfect complements. Meanwhile, Jean and Neil seemed to trip each other up more often than not. It wasn’t helped by Neil’s refusal to bloodbend. They all worked up a sweat, but it wasn’t enough for Neil to do anything but litter the Ravens with tiny cuts, and that didn’t help him. So instead, he fought with his hands, dodging fire and fists and  his own dehydration. 

The fight couldn’t have lasted for more than a few minutes by the time Neil took a blow to the head and knee and went down. With him gone, both Ravens focused on Jean, and he didn’t last much longer either.

Neil was almost relieved when the fight was over. But when the Ravens stepped back, he saw Riko approaching, his face twisted into an ugly snarl.

“Not going to bend for me? Maybe you’re not as strong as I thought.” Riko spat. He aimed a kick at Jean’s stomach and Neil heard the airbender grunt. “Get up, both of you. We’re not done here.”

Neil didn’t move and Riko aimed another kick, this one at Neil himself.

“I said, get up.”

Neil slowly got to his feet, and Riko eyed him with evident anger.

Then Riko turned and walked back to his spot at the edge of the ring, motioning towards the side. Another pair of Ravens walked out to face them.

“Practise isn’t over yet. Not everyone has had a turn.” Riko said, his tone mocking.

Jean shot Neil a look, but he didn’t turn to see it. There was no point.

~*~

After the first day at the Nest, Neil was sore in more places than he’d thought existed. He was, at least, moved into the hallway where the other Ravens lived and given a room with a proper bed. The room, however, was shared with Jean and connected to Riko’s room.

The “training” exercises that Riko used as an excuse to beat Neil and Jean continued every day. Occasionally, they’d be given a break after a handful of fights to watch two other pairs of Ravens fight, before being thrown back into the ring. Usually though, they simply had to fight until one or both of them passed out. Neil came to learn that it was better to pass out in the ring than to get breaks.

On days where he didn’t pass out, Riko used the privacy and space of his single room to  _encourage_ Neil to bloodbend.  Just b eing in Riko’s room was almost as bad as the barely-disguised torture sessions that took place in there. 

The entire room was covered in pictures of Riko, and pictures of Kevin. Despite Neil knowing that Kevin had never lived at the Nest, since Riko had been given control over the Ravens after Kevin had left, there was one corner of the room that was piled with things clearly belonging to Kevin. It was creepy, it was obsessive, and bringing it up was a surefire way to get under Riko’s skin. Naturally, Neil brought it up often.

After what seemed like months, but was probably closer to weeks, Neil got an unwelcome break from the routine.

Riko shoved Neil down on to the bed, grinning as Neil hissed a breath out between his teeth. The spot where Riko’s had touched his skin grew uncomfortably warm, then white-hot with pain. Neil had grown excruciatingly familiar with the sensation of burns as of late. The other barely healed burns on his back twinged in pain when he hit the mattress.

Riko settled on Neil’s chest and Jean took his place holding down Neil’s legs. Riko grabbed Neil’s arms to pin them down, heat building along his palms in warning.

“Does it bother you, to know that Kevin chose someone he’d never met over you? When you finally showed him that you’re nothing but a jealous little kid, that your brother decided to just up and leave you?” Neil said, arranging his face into what he hoped was a mocking smile. 

Riko laughed, and it sounded tinged with desperation. “ He’s the one acting like a little kid, running away to his daddy when there’s too much pressure put on him. He’ll come back to where he belongs soon. His stupid father can’t hide him away forever.”

Some  surprise or confusion must have shown on Neil’s face, because Riko sneered. “Oh, did he not tell you that? Guess you don’t know him as well as I do. Guess he just doesn’t trust you.” 

A whistle in the corner of Riko’s room blew, quiet and low. Neil had noticed it there, but had never heard it make a noise before. Riko glared at it for a moment, then shrugged and got off Neil.

“Clean him up. I’ll be back later.” He stormed out of the room without another word, leaving Jean and Neil alone.

Jean got off his legs and pulled him into a sitting position, before reaching underneath the bed for the burn cream. “I know you enjoy being obtuse and provoking him, but learn to hold your tongue for the next day, perhaps?”

“Tell me what Riko meant about Kevin’s father and I’ll consider it.” Neil didn’t flinch as Jean rubbed the cream onto the new burn none too gently. 

“You’d best do more than consider it. It’ll be worse for all of us if you don’t.” Jean got up and moved behind Neil to address the burns on his back. “Kayleigh was from a noble family in the Fire Nation, long-time advisors to the Fire Lord. But she was always a… free spirit, and hated to stick to her proper social circles. She was still rather young when she took a particular fancy to a member of the lower nobility, so her parents assumed it would be a passing fancy and it was allowed to continue. The boy was already off, training to serve in the army, when she discovered she was pregnant. I have no idea how Kevin figured out who the boy was, much less figured out how to find him after he grew up, joined the war against the Earth Kingdom, defected, and went on to lead a little ragtag band of irritations.”

“Wymack?”

“Of course.” Jean finished applying the cream and stepped back. There was no real point in wrapping the burns, since the material of his shirt was light enough that it didn’t irritate the burns, and any additional fabric risked being pushed into future wounds and causing infection.

Not for the first time, Neil wished he knew how to heal.

“What was that whistle, anyway?” Neil said, watching Jean put away the burn cream. Only Neil had burns, but they both had many, many other injuries. There was little to be done for bruised skin and ribs, though. Only time or a healer could help, and they had neither. 

Jean stood up and ran a hand through his hair, wincing as he did. “The alarm can only mean two things. Either the Nest is under attack, or the Master has arrived. Not even your friends would be stupid enough to attempt an outright attack, so it signals the Master’s arrival.”

“You mean General Tetsuji? Tetsuji’s here?” Neil felt himself go a little cold at the thought. Dealing with Riko was easy enough, but Tetsuji and Kengo were different matters. He’d only seen Tetsuji once before. The night that his mother had taken him and run. He could practically hear her screaming at him now, telling him to run and hide. But there was nowhere he could go.

“Yes, he’s here. He won’t be pleased that you won’t bend for Riko. I know I can’t ask you to be smart, since you apparently don’t possess a single ounce of self preservation, but at least be quiet.”

Jean helped Neil back into a shirt and let Neil get off the bed and to his feet.

As soon as he was upright, the door to Riko’s room opened again. General Tetsuji walked in first, followed closely behind by Riko.

Tetsuji was smaller than Neil remembered. Still taller than Neil himself, of course, but shorter than Riko and more narrow in the shoulders. His stature wasn’t helped by the ornate cane and halting gait that he walked with,  but none of that diminished the absolute dread that balled in the pit of Neil’s stomach. 

Tetsuji slid a blank stare over Neil, appraising him, before turning to Riko. 

“This is the one that you asked for?” His tone was a carefully curated flat line of disdain. 

Riko stiffened and leveled a glare at Neil from behind his uncle’s back. “Yes, sir. Nathaniel is the waterbender who refuses to cooperate with me.”

“Hm.” Tetsuji walked closer, and Neil fought to control his panic and keep breathing. Next to him, Jean was a perfect mask of compliant obedience. “This _boy_ defies you?” 

The censure was implicit in his tone. Over his shoulder, Neil saw Riko blink and watched his face twist in anger as he fought to bite back a rebuttal. 

In front of him, Tetsuji’s cane rapped on the floor, three sharp taps. “Kneel.”

Neil blinked once, and words came out of his mouth before he’d even processed the order. “Make me.”

Tetsuji’s expression didn’t change at all as his cane came up to smash into the side of Neil’s head. Neil treasured the second after the cane made contact, where his world tilted sideways but the hadn’t yet registered. 

Then, he hit the ground, the cane came down again, and it was all he could do to curl into a ball and try to breathe through the onslaught of pain. 

After what felt like actual ages, the blows stopped coming. Neil could only tell because his body stopped moving on the ground with the force of them. Every inch of him ached viciously, and sharp spikes of pain flooded his body with each breath. Somewhere above him, Riko and Tetsuji were talking. His head felt too muddled to comprehend anything more than snatches of the conversation. 

“-two days travel, at least.”

“Muldani? How did sh-”

“-xes are suspected to be involved, wi-”

“-ush them, easily.”

“Hmph. Prepare your Ra-”

“Yes, sir.”

Neil heard the tapping of the cane on the floor and tried to curl up tighter, but the sound seemed to be fading. Rough hands grabbed his arm and he was hauled upright, the world spinning.  One of his eyes seemed to be swollen shut, he vaguely noted. 

Someone, probably Jean, half-carried, half-dragged him somewhere. He wasn’t sure if Riko was with them or not. After a while, he was gently sat down on a hard surface. Something pressed to his lips and he tried to turn away, until his brain finally caught up enough to process the words being repeated at him.

“Drink, you absolute idiot.” It definitely was Jean. Neil opened his mouth and took messy gulps of the water he was being offered. “Listen, we don’t have a lot of time before Riko comes to check on you. We have to leave and I don’t know how long we’ll be gone. Riko will probably give you some water, but it won’t be much. You have to make it last.”

Through an unfocused eye, Neil saw Jean check over his shoulder before the water was taken away from him. 

There was a loud noise, the sound of a metal door banging against a rock. Neil tried to flinch away from it but moving still hurt too much,  even though some clarity was coming back to him. 

Riko entered the small room,  the same room Neil had been in when he’d first gotten there,  his face twisted into a snarl. He threw a small waterskin into the corner of the room and looked at Neil. 

“Enjoy your time alone, Nathaniel. When I come back, you _will_ yield to me.” Riko produced what looked like another, thin cane from behind his back. If Jean hadn’t been practically kneeling on top of Neil’s feet, he would have missed the way the airbender flinched. 

“Jean, hold him.”

Jean stood and dragged Neil to his feet. Physically, Neil didn’t have the strength to resist  as he was pulled into a standing position, his back to Jean’s chest.  Riko grabbed both ends of the cane, and Neil could feel the heat that started to come off of it as the metal under Riko’s right hand began to glow an orange-red. 

“You should be grateful for this, Nathaniel. We had to forge a whole new one, just for you.”

N eil only realised what was going on when it was too late. The metal brand pressed into his cheekbone, and Neil  _screamed_ .

~*~

Neil drifted in and out of awareness. The air was so dry and hot that it leeched the water out of him effortlessly. The small waterskin he’d been given had been emptied not long after Riko had left. Sleeping was easier, but not necessarily better. Every time he woke, his head throbbed, face burned and throat ached. The brain fog that came with sleep and dehydration made it difficult for him to tell how long he’d been alone. He didn’t think it was long, but he really had no measurement for it beyond his own symptoms. Maybe a day? Maybe two?

After some indeterminable amount of time, he thought he heard a knock on the door. Neil blearily looked to it, but didn’t even bother trying to get up. The knock came again, and then there was a strange crushing sound, like sand being scraped across rock, and the whole wall seemed to ripple. The black rock around the door crumpled like paper and then scattered across the ground. The metal door itself fell backwards, and two figures stepped out from behind it.

Seeing who the two people were did nothing to convince Neil that he was not, in fact, hallucinating from a lack of water. It was Andrew and Kevin.

Kevin looked pale and Andrew, well, also looked pale. But no more than was usual. Kevin quickly rushed towards Neil, stopping short when he saw Neil start to flinch away. He crouched just within arms reach, and offered something that had been slung around his neck. A waterskin.

Neil grabbed it at once, beginning to take as small sips as he could manage. His head felt heavy when he tried to lift it up from where he lay so he wouldn’t spill the precious water on himself. It was only when the water hit his throat and he felt his whole body begin to relax that he became properly convinced that this wasn’t a mirage.

“The hell?” He managed, gasping the words out in between sips of water.

“Finish your water, we’ll explain more on the way out. Nice place the Ravens have here.” Andrew said tightly.

Kevin shot him some kind of look over his shoulder, then turned back to Neil. “As soon as you’re able to stand, we’ve got to move. We have a little bit of time, but not much. We managed to stage an incident that called the Ravens away from here, but it won’t be long before they realise it’s a farce. We need to be clear of Fire Nation waters by the time they even think to come back.”

“Aww, don’t wanna stay and face them? Come on Kevin, you could finally tell Riko to back off. You could finally grow a spine.”

Kevin made a choked noise and turned around to face Andrew. “We have to get out of here before they come back.”

Neil pushed himself into a sitting position, and his world momentarily spun. He would need another moment before standing or walking was an option.

“How?” He managed.

“Kevin’s _betrothed_ helped us.” Andrew practically scoffed, and Kevin went a little pink.

“It’s not like that and you know it.” He turned back to Neil and checked the amount still left in the waterskin. “I was engaged to a Fire Nation girl, an arranged thing when we were kids. We never really felt for each other like _that_ , but we were… friends. She used to be a Raven but I think she left them shortly after my injury. She staged a kidnapping and ransoming. Thea’s not a Raven anymore, but she used to be, so they can’t very well let that go unanswered. We knew they’d go to retrieve her with full force.”

“That and the monk wanted to get her little lost birdie back.” Andrew glanced into the hallway behind them. “Going to be ready to run anytime soon, rabbit?”

“Yeah.” Neil croaked, sitting up and swinging his legs down. He didn’t think anything of it until Kevin made a choked noise.

“The fuck?” Andrew growled, and Neil looked up to see both of his rescuers staring at him. Kevin looked horrified, and Andrew looked borderline murderous.

“What?” As the words left his mouth, Neil realised where their gazes were. Neither of them were looking him in the eye, not quite. Instead, they were looking just a bit lower. To his cheekbone, where he could feel the burn.

“Planning on joining Riko’s little gang?” Andrew’s hands were balled into fists and he radiated anger.

“After Ba Sing Se? You should know the answer to that.” Neil grimaced as he stood up. He locked eyes with Andrew and held the other man’s gaze for several heartbeats.

Andrew scoffed. “Well, let’s get out of here and see if Abby can’t get that thing off your face. It’s ugly enough as is.”

The words were harsh, but they did seem to loosen something in Neil’s chest. Kevin was still watching him with a look of dread, but nothing more was said about it as they made their way out of the small room and into the lava tunnels of the Nest.

Andrew set a fast pace, his steps sure. Neil found that he had to lean on Kevin to keep up fully, and walking reminded him of the brutal blows he had taken from Tetsuji. With every footfall, he became more sure that he had at least one cracked or bruised rib.

They wound their way deeper into the volcano, passing by rooms that Neil had never even seen. There were areas where the floors were polished into a smooth shine, filled with wide couches in black, and red plush chairs. There were areas where exposed lava flows had been made into ovens and stovetops for cooking over, and the smell of cooked meat and spices had seeped into the rocks. At one point, they passed through a mostly collapsed tunnel with a lava flow running through it, albeit a long ways below them, and the heat was almost unbearable. The brand on Neil’s face stung in the hot air, and it almost felt like it was fresh. He fought hard not to react, though.

Eventually, though, the heat began to lessen. When Neil realised he could actually see out to something blue out of the tunnel, Andrew paused in his steps and turned to Kevin. He held out an arm, and Kevin shifted Neil’s weight over to him. Neil watched as Kevin began to airbend, pulling hot air from behind them up around them. He created a hot ball of wind and kept it constantly swirling around them.

Andrew nodded, and they began walking again. When they reached the blue Neil had seen, a collapsed portion in the roof of the tunnel, Neil understood. The blue of the sky was visible, but it was framed with massive plumes of white gas. They must be close to the ocean now, and thus to where the toxic gasses from the lava and the sea met formed.

Shortly after the tunnel closed back up, they reached the end of it. The roof dropped away for a final time, opening up to a stark black beach. Beyond Kevin’s protective bubble of air, Neil couldn’t see a single thing. The sound of the lava in the channel below them finally running into the ocean was an almost deafening hiss, and it billowed up thick clouds of gas. As Andrew lead them to one side, away from where it met, Neil realised that the meeting of the lava and water also flung out little shards of jet-black glass, tossing them around in the air like tiny throwing knives.

Kevin was sweating with effort when reached another massive lava flow. This one was far bigger than the one they’d followed out of the volcano, and it forked three times before emptying into the sea.

“Andrew.” Kevin said, through gritted teeth.

Andrew grunted. “I know. Time to stand on your own feet, rabbit. Just for a bit.”

He shifted, and helped Neil take his weight back. Neil felt unsteady on his feet, but he wasn’t going to hinder them. He could stand and walk on his own, if not as quickly.

Andrew stepped to the front of the protective ball of air, as close as he could to the lava stream. Then, he began to _bend_ it.

It was absolutely bizarre to watch. The stocky, short earthbender seemed to be mimicking Neil’s style, shifting his weight around, balanced on the balls of his feet as he moved his arms up and around himself. But, the lava responded to it. The flow in front of them lifted up, arching over their heads like a river. Well, not quite like a river. Pieces of rock were stuck to the bottom of the flow in half-melted states, threatening to drip down on top of them.

“Let’s get moving.” Andrew snapped, and Kevin and Neil obediently began walking forwards, careful to keep a tight group. When they were clear, Andrew let the stream fall down to the ground, where it landed with a wet thump. It didn’t splash. It was liquid, but it was so much thicker than water and watching it move and be bent made Neil feel oddly uneasy.

Andrew repeated his strange feat of earthbending twice more, until they were past the larger lava flow. Kevin was beginning to look like he was struggling, but with the lava behind them, Neil noticed a relatively small boat practically hidden in the toxic gasses. Andrew lead them towards it, then shuffled to the side to let Kevin get in first. The small craft had a decent sized sail that was bent down, and the entire thing was covered in a fine layer of volcanic glass. As Kevin got in, the air bubble that moved with him blew the glittering shards back into the ocean. Kevin helped Neil get in, moving him to sit down on the opposite side of the boat, then lifted the sail into an upright position with Andrew’s help. He slid a metal bolt into the base of the mast when it was up, locking it in position. Andrew, still on the black beach, earthbent the piece of rope that had served as their anchor out of the beach, and began shoving them into the water. When he was knee deep in the surf, he finally swung himself into the boat.

“Time to stop slacking off. You need to push us far enough out that Kevin can drop the air bubble.” Andrew looked at Neil, where he was slumped on the bottom of the boat. His tone was the usual flat, mocking one, but the way he held Neil’s eyes was sincere. “Can you do it, Neil?”

When he said Neil’s name, Neil knew that he would do as Andrew asked. Even if he had been too exhausted, he would have found the strength somewhere.

Fortunately, he wasn’t too exhausted. Not for this little bit. Neil shifted towards the back of the boat and put his hand in the water. It wasn’t really necessary, but damn if it didn’t feel good. The water was hot, uncomfortably so, but he didn’t care. He summoned up as much concentration as he could muster and began to push them out to sea.

As he did, he realised just how risky this plan had been for them. Even with the sail shut, the tides still went with the wind and tried to push them back to the island. They’d come in on the windward side, where they’d be blown towards the island and Kevin could make an air bubble without needing to control the boat for their entry. That way, their boat would be concealed by the smoke to anyone looking at the shoreline from the Nest, in case any Ravens had been left behind. But, if Neil hadn’t been there or hadn’t been able to bend even this small amount to push the boat back out to sea, against the winds, for their escape, they would have been trapped. Kevin couldn’t airbend the toxic gasses away from them _and_ waterbend their boat against the tides at the same time.

When they were far enough out, Kevin dropped the bubble. He passed Neil another waterskin and a small bag of dried meat and berries wordlessly. Neil relaxed a little, switching to just holding the boat’s position instead of driving them forwards, and took his hand out of the water. Though the air was probably quite warm, it felt cool to his skin. They took a little break there, bobbing in the water. Andrew kept a glaring watch on the horizon for any other ships while Kevin and Neil ate and drank.

When Kevin finished his own bag of dried food, he nodded to Neil and stood up.

“I can take it from here.” He said, not quite looking at Neil as he unfurled the sail and began to tie it off.

Neil nodded, but didn’t loose his grip on the boat until Kevin began airbending into the sail, pushing them through the water with an unnatural haste.

“Once we’re far enough away from the Nest, I’ll take over with the oars to give him a break. It’ll take us well into the night to reach friendly land. Feel free to jump in and speed that up at any time, though.” Andrew said, kicking his feet up on the side of the boat. He reached down into the bag that Kevin had gotten the food out of and tossed something to Neil. It hit him in the chest and fell to the bottom of the boat. Andrew blinked at him, unimpressed.

“Burn cream, from Abby. Do you need help applying it, or are you a big boy who can do it by himself?”

And there was the mocking tone Neil knew so well. He picked up the jar and opened it pointedly. He carefully applied it to the burn he could feel on his face, then hesitated. Andrew had already seen his scars, but Kevin… Well, Kevin wasn’t looking at him anyway.

He peeled off his shirt and began to apply the cream to the handprint on his chest. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Andrew sit up and lean forward to get a better look. When he finished covering it in a thin layer, he heard a soft gasp above him.

“Neil…”

He ignored Kevin and held out the jar of ointment towards Andrew. He looked at the earthbender, and was almost taken aback by the surprisingly intense look on his face.

“I can’t quite reach the ones on my back. Would you?”

Andrew took the jar and nodded with a quick jerk of his chin. “Turn around.”

Neil did, bringing his legs towards his chest to swivel about. With his back to Andrew, he waited. After a moment, he felt a light touch. Not the cooling sensation of the ointment, though. Andrew was touching the burns, with barely any pressure at first. Then, Neil felt a hand gently, but firmly, press over one of the older ones. It was healed enough to not sting with the contact, but still tender. Andrew’s skin felt burning hot against his.

“Andrew?”

Andrew withdrew his hand immediately. “Tsk tsk. So pushy.”

The next touch he felt on his back was the ointment being applied.

When his back was done, he gently put his shirt back on and tried to curl up in the bottom of the boat. The sun was low in the sky, but it crept steadily upwards as Kevin steered them on, denying him a restful sleep. It must have been morning when they’d gotten him, Neil realised. He’d spent his time at the Nest in a confused haze of pain and unknown schedules. He simply hadn’t been allowed to see the sky often enough to have had any sense of the passage of time.

When the sky was directly overhead, the rocking of the boat jolted Neil out of a nap. Kevin moved away from the rudder to trade places with Andrew, who pulled two oars out of the bottom of the boat, almost directly underneath Neil. Neil took a few sips of water from the waterskin that he’d fallen asleep clutching, revelling in having the ability to do that. Then he rolled over, so the sail better shaded him, and fell back asleep.

The next time he woke, the sun was low in the sky, only a hand’s width above the horizon. Above him, Kevin was also sleeping, slumped against the mast on the bench towards the front of the small boat. Andrew was still rowing, but had taken his shirt off at some point, and pink now tinged his neck and shoulders from the sun. Neil watched the way the muscles in his arms flexed with each stroke of the oars in groggy fascination.

“Staring.” Andrew grunted, and his eyes flickered down to meet Neil’s. Neil felt the side of his mouth curl up a little in a grin. He sat up and looked around them, blinking salt water and dried tears away. Land, or maybe just a mirage of it, had come into view way out in the distance. Neil picked up his large, half-empty waterskin, and took a drink. His throat ached, but only when he swallowed. It was a fiercely welcome relief from the near constant pain it had been for him at the Nest.

“Here, I can take a turn.” Neil said. His voice was raspy from sleep, rather than from screaming.

Andrew raised an eyebrow at him.

“No, really. I feel much better.” Neil wiggled his legs out from under Andrew’s bench and pushed himself up so he was also perched on the wooden plank.

“No one likes a liar.” Andrew said warningly, but pulled the oars from the water and set them on the floor. He nodded towards the land, in the direction the boat was already pointed.

Neil wasn’t lying, though. He really did feel much better. If they got into a fight, of any kind, he’d certainly fall down after taking one blow, but pushing such a small boat wasn’t anywhere near as difficult as that. The wind had mostly died down, so the sail had been wrapped up around the mast, and the rare gusts that they got didn’t do much. The seas were neither terribly smooth nor terribly rough, and the boat had only barely more tread than a heavy raft.

He began to push the boat in the direction of the land. Andrew gave him warning glares whenever he thought that Neil might be over exerting himself, so they ended up going only marginally faster than they’d been going when Andrew had been rowing. By the time they reached the beach, Neil was tired and dusk had descended on them.

It was warm enough that a fire would be an unnecessary risk, so they woke Kevin and climbed out of the boat. Kevin and Neil dragged their bags of food and supplies up to the leeward side of a high sand dune while Andrew painstakingly bent the sand to drag the boat up onto the beach. They made a decent shelter, between the boat and the dune. It was far from inconspicuous, if anyone were to be walking up the beach, but the dune would more or less hide them from anyone approaching from behind. Besides, it would only be for one night.

When Andrew finished dragging the boat up, Kevin pulled off his shirt, bundled it up under his head, and passed out in the sand.

“Sure, I’ll take first watch. No problem.” Andrew kicked a bit of sand at the Avatar’s head as he sat down.

“I can take first watch, if you need sleep.” Neil offered, digging around in the bag of supplies that wasn’t being cuddled by Kevin for the burn cream.

Andrew plucked the jar out of Neil’s hands and opened it. “You look like shit. I’m not convinced you can actually see out of that one eye with that shiner. You don’t have to sleep if you don’t want to, but forgive me if I don’t think you can keep watch right now.”

“Wow, thanks, dear. You look just lovely too.” Neil huffed, but it was a token protest. Andrew was probably right.

Andrew rolled his eyes. “Just get over here.”

Neil shifted around in the sand until he was sitting in front of Andrew. It was dark, but the light of the half moon overhead bounced off the sand enough for Neil to study the lines of tension in Andrew’s face as his friend applied the burn cream with rough fingers.

Abruptly, they reminded him of another set of hands.

“Will Jean be alright?” He said quietly.

Andrew stilled for a moment, then motioned for Neil to take his shirt off. “No. If you’re asking if Renee will be able to get him away from the Ravens, I don’t know. Probably. If anyone can do it, it’s probably her. Beyond that, I can’t say. Why? Missing your bird buddy?”

He finished with the handprint on Neil’s chest and stared hard at it for a moment before nodding for Neil to turn around.

“”I was just wondering what the hell happens next. For all of us.” Neil said, leaning forward to give Andrew better access.

“For you, me, and that idiot over there, we wait. We spend the night here, let the boat dry out. In the morning, Kevin will set fire to the boat and we’ll walk to the nearest town. There, we’ll meet with a travelling band of merchants and musicians that’s been staying there. They’re friends of Allison’s, and we’ll travel with them for a few days while you recover. Then we’ll leave them, and travel a few more days on foot to get back to Foxhole Court.”

“Foxhole Court?”

“It’s what they’ve been calling our forest, apparently.” Andrew sighed. “Our shitty little rebel group apparently gained some fame after we took on the Ravens and lived. And after we took out a high ranking Earth Kingdom officer.”

Andrew’s laugh was laced with bitterness.

“Did Allison manage to find the hole in her network?” Neil asked, thinking of how Riko had tricked them into going to Ba Sing Se.

“Yeah.” Andrew grunted. “Turns out Erik actually knew some useful info. Apparently one of her merchant friends in the inner city had been taken in by the Dai Lee agents a few weeks before, and had gone to Lake Laogai for a bit. He must have been the weak point.”

Andrew tapped on Neil’s shoulder to let him know that he was done. Neil didn’t put his shirt back on right away, wanting to feel the slight sea breeze on his skin.

“Lake Laogai… that’s where Riko said they were holding you. What is it?” Neil took the jar back from Andrew, snapped the lid on, and replaced it in the supply bag.

“It’s reconditioning for the Earth Kingdom. You fuck up enough, they send you there instead of prison. It’s maximum security, so deep underground that it can make even an earthbender claustrophobic. The Dai Lee are trained to break into your head, and scramble all your feelings around until you don’t know friend from foe.” Neil turned around to see Andrew look up to the moon, like he was marvelling at the open sky.

“How did you get out?”

Without looking away from the sky, Andrew scowled. “I’ve been there before. They can’t hold me. You can only scramble an egg once, you know. After that, you’re just wasting your energy pushing yellow shit around in a pan.”

“Andrew,” Neil said haltingly.

“Neil.” Was the mocking reply.

“’Drew-”

“Shut up.” Andrew’s head snapped down and he stared hard into the sand dune.

After a moment, Neil gave up. He wasn’t going to push Andrew on it. Instead, he leaned his side against the beached boat, listened to the sounds of the waves behind them, and let his eyes drift close.

Neil woke up to movement some time later. Andrew had stood up, but he looked relaxed and unhurried, so Neil didn’t panic. He watched Andrew creep over to Kevin and nudge the other man awake with his foot. Kevin woke up slowly, batting Andrew away for a minute before he realised what was going on. Then he sat up, and begrudgingly switched places with Andrew, coming to sit next to Neil so he could see the beach better.

Despite only having slept for some of Andrew’s watch, Neil didn’t feel particularly tired. Maybe it was because he’d been sleeping for the better part of two days, at least. Regardless of the reason, he sat up a bit now and nodded to Kevin. They sat in silence for a long while until the sound of Andrew’s deep breaths evened out.

“Why’d he mark you?” Kevin’s voice was quiet, barely above a whisper, and he wouldn’t look at Neil.

“Huh?” Neil didn’t know what that meant.

“Your face.”

Neil raised a hand to his face, confused, and stopped just before touching the raw burn there. “You know they didn’t exactly give me a mirror, right? I have no idea what I look like right now.”

At that, Kevin finally turned and actually looked at Neil. It occurred to him then that Kevin had actually been avoiding looking directly at him all day.

“Four.” Kevin said, and his voice sounded rough. He raised his own hand to tap the branded two on his cheek, mirroring Neil. “You’ve got a four here.”

Neil went still, shocked. Somehow, that hadn’t even occurred to him. Riko had branded him like _property_. Like Kevin.

He looked at the supply pack. Maybe there was a knife in there, something he could use to get it off his face-

Before he could even make a move, Kevin grabbed his hands, forcing his attention back to the other man. “Neil. Please, tell me what I’m thinking is wrong. Tell me you’re not who I think you are.”

Neil hissed and tried to yank his hands away, but Kevin wouldn’t let go. Panic started to rise in his chest and he felt himself go cold.

“Why did Riko brand you like Jean and me? Why does he want you in his inner circle?” Kevin’s eyes were wide in the moonlight, pleading.

“You should know the answer to that, Kevin Day.” Neil, no, Nathaniel met Kevin’s eyes. “How many male waterbenders are there left? You’re one of the few to have met the Butcher and lived. Surely you can see the resemblance? The hair is a bit of a giveaway.”

“But- but you weren’t- you didn’t even-” Kevin started to sputter and tried to let go of his hands, but Nathaniel moved lightning-fast and grabbed Kevin’s wrists the moment he was free, yanking Kevin in close.

“No, I didn’t live at either of the poles. I was born there, at the South Pole, while my father and your adoptive father worked together to slaughter my people. I grew up, though, in the Fire Nation capitol with you. You were just too wrapped up in your perfect little life, best friends with Prince Riko, son of capitol darling Kayleigh Day.” Nathaniel’s lips curled up in a snarl. “I remember seeing you when I was growing up. I doubt you ever noticed me. Why would you? I was practically a servant, compared to you. And yet here I am, practically a nobody, willing to risk my life to teach you waterbending while I should be on the run from my father. And you, the Avatar, can’t even stand up to your former best friend.”

“But- you’re-” Nathaniel tightened his grip on Kevin’s wrists and he cut himself off. He visibly swallowed, trying to collect himself. “You’re a bloodbender.”

Somewhere, deep inside himself, Neil wanted to scream that he wasn’t. He was nothing like his father, he hated the ability he’d been given, he was more than the breeding project that he’d been made to be. But the old panic at being recognised, instilled in him by his mother, was stronger.

Nathaniel leaned forward, bringing his face less than a finger’s length away from Kevin’s. “I am the strongest bloodbender anyone has ever seen.”

He let go of Kevin and watched as the Avatar almost fell over to put distance between them. “I’m still your waterbending teacher. This doesn’t change the deal I made with Andrew.”

Kevin looked over at the sleeping earthbender, and opened his mouth.

Nathaniel cut him off quickly. “Say one word to any of them about my father, I’ll tell every single Fox who your father is.”

Kevin’s head snapped back to look at Nathaniel with shock. “You- what?”

Before Nathaniel could answer, Andrew rolled over in the sand. “Kevin, shut the hell up. Let me sleep.”

Nathaniel cocked an eyebrow, a parody of Andrew’s best mocking expression.

He didn’t sleep after that, but Kevin didn’t say another word until morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The island where the nest is is meant to be Avatar Roku's island, but after several smaller, additional eruptions.


End file.
